Chapter 11- Lost
Garin was working at the console, and with a push of a button, the Stargate that was laid in the floor began to rise. The base of the Gate was embedded in a mechanism that tilted the Gate up and held it in place. Rodney continued to fight with all his willpower against him. It was getting fairly easy, Garin was having a difficult time keeping command over his emotions. He got control of his voice.
"You are really pissing me off Garin!"
Garin fought back, "I'm pissing you off? You're the one making this difficult!" He pressed a few last instructions into the console, using his left hand since Rodney had effectively rendered the right useless to him.
"That would be my plan you worthless son of a bitch."
Garin picked up the pack and stepped with his left foot towards the Jumper, but was unable to move his right leg. "Let go of the leg McKay! You're calling me worthless? Me? Without me, there wouldn't have been a city for you and your infantile race to come to!" He walked toward the Jumper dragging the leg. The Jumper was angled towards the Gate and the hatch would open with just enough room so as not to hit the far wall. The Stargate was now fully locked in place.
"Infantile! Granted we're not as technology advanced as you, but by no definition of the word are we infantile! We've been using your technologies without too many problems."
"Personal shield ring a bell? Or the 'Jumper in the Gate' incident?" Garin was now by the Jumper, about to open the hatch when Rodney took control for a second and slammed him against the wall.
Garin recovered, "Oww! Stop beating yourself up McKay!" There was an explosion by the door as the C-4 detonated, the door was left in shambles. "Damn it, I thought I deactivated those sensors before they knew I was here!" He pulled the hand weapon from where he put it in the waistband of his military blue pants.
"Ha! The cavalry, you are so not leaving the city!"
"Watch me." The hatch began to open and he fired at the hole in the door.
Major Sheppard peered through the hole created by the explosion and saw Garin aiming a weapon in his direction. He pulled back just as shockwave passed him. "What the hell is that?" Another wave came through the hole, dissipating on the wall if the hallway.
Teyla was beside him, "I have never seen that type of weapon before." Markham was behind Teyla and Ford and his team were on the other side of the door.
The firing stopped and John stepped in through the new door he made just in time to see a glimpse of Garin moving rather oddly into a Jumper. He also noticed a Stargate standing in the middle of the room.
He got off a blast from the stunner as soon as he saw Garin, but it flew past as he fully stepped in. John waved the rest of the teams on as he ran towards the Jumper yelling, "Garin!" The hatch started to close.
Ford and his team spread out in room while Teyla followed John towards the Jumper's hatch.
"Don't do this!" John made it to the hatch just to see through the final crack Garin struggling through the blast doors into the front of the Jumper.
Garin sat down in the pilot's seat still bickering with Rodney as he powered up the systems.
"How are going to fly this with one arm, hmm? Hmm? You're losing it Doctor, admit it!" Rodney's voice betrayed his nervousness as it cracked.
"Your reassertion of certain bodily functions will be temporary, Doctor McKay. Quite honestly, this alternating control of the voice is getting tiring." Garin turned towards the dialing device so he could use the left arm that he still had complete control of. He started punching in coordinates.
Rodney's voice was shaky, "What… where are you going?"
"I haven't decided the final destination as of yet." He entered the final symbol, and the wormhole established.
"You don't even… this is crazy!" Rodney took a hold of his right side, braced his right arm on the dialing console, and stood on his leg in an attempt to leave the Jumper.
"Oh no you don't." Garin plopped back down in the seat and the Jumper lifted off the ground.
Major Sheppard watched as the Gate activated and called back to Aiden who was now by the consoles, "Ford!"
"The Jumper's controlling it, sir."
John ran to the front of the Jumper and looked inside to see him sit down in the pilot's seat, the ship lifting off the ground. "Come on, Rodney! Stop this!" He could have sworn he heard him yell, "I'm trying!" and saw him struggling with Garin for control. He yelled back, "Well, try harder!"
The Jumper surged forward, forcing John to dive to the ground as it passed over him and swerved through the Gate.
It seemed like forever that the group stared at this secondary Gate in disbelief. They only snapped out of it when their radios activated with Elizabeth's voice, "What's going on down there?"
John stood up off the ground, "He made it through the Gate in a Jumper."
Her voice was tense, "Where did it come from?"
"It looks as if it was here already."
"Any idea where he went?"
"He dialed from the Jumper."
"I see." He could hear the defeat in her voice as she continued, "I'm sending teams down to disable the Gate and the other auxiliary systems. There's a meeting in a few minutes."
John could sense the worry behind her calm voice, "I'll be there."
---
The Jumper emerged from the event horizon and started to soar up into the atmosphere due to the fighting over the controls, both mental and hand held, of the ship by Rodney and Garin. The Puddle Jumper was technically confused about whom to take orders from. Soon enough, they were in the highest levels of the atmosphere, almost in orbit.
Rodney hissed, "Let go Garin."
"No."
Garin suddenly pushed the control his left hand was gripped on to forward, and the Jumper took a sharp nosedive straight down. The dry, somewhat sandy ground of the planet kept getting closer and closer.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Garin calmly stated, "Going into the atmosphere."
"Where'd you learn piloting skills, 'Disasters Waiting to Happen 101?' Ease up!" Rodney used his control to change the angle of descent to a nicer, more pleasant angle.
"I was taught by our military trainers. Didn't take too well."
"Obviously!"
They were now in the lower atmosphere and Garin instructed the Jumper to make a slight turn to the left. But Rodney had other ideas, he made the ship swing back in the direction of the Stargate.
"Hey, McKay, wrong way." Garin turned the Jumper around.
"Wrong way to what?" Rodney snipped as he spun the Jumper back.
"To where I want to go."
"Well, I want to go back to Atlantis and get you out of my head!"
Garin once again turned the ship around, "We can't all have what we want."
"But I can." Rodney continued to fight with Garin, this time even more violently, causing the Jumper to sway back and forth, becoming highly unstable.
Garin struggled to stay in the pilot's seat, "If you do not stop McKay, you will crash this ship!"
"Why don't you stop? Hmm!"
But neither did as the Jumper neared a cluster of old ruins at the top of a low hill and started spinning slowly, throwing them around the forefront of the ship, into the console, roughly slamming a shoulder against the wall, and then the Jumper spun more rapidly, the force pinning them to the ceiling.
It was all he could do to hang on.
The Jumper's angle of descent increased, and it spun into a column of the ruins, busting right through it. The front of the ship skidded into the ground just beyond the ruins and flipped over the top of the hill, sending Rodney bouncing around the hard edges of the Jumper, it rolled twice before coming to a stop at the base.
Xxx
Elizabeth looked around at the group assembled in the briefing room. If she thought they looked worried at the last mass meeting discussing Rodney a couple days earlier pending his release back to work, then they were outright distraught now. Radek and Peter had just sat down; John, Carson, Aiden, Teyla, and Kate/Elana were seated around her talking quietly to each other. They were waiting for the head of security to walk in, which he did momentarily.
"Ma'am, Major." Bates took a seat.
"Sergeant." John responded.
"Let's get started." Elizabeth folded her hands on the table, "Peter, how are the systems functioning?"
"All Control Room systems are back online, and the second Gate has been lowered back into the floor. In that aspect, everything is back to the way it was."
"Good." She continued, "We have a serious situation here. Rodney is somewhere on another planet, with a Jumper, and not in control of his actions. Finding him is our first priority."
"I suggest we change all security codes. If he gets taken by the Wraith, it would leave us vulnerable."
John stood up at Bates suggestion, "Rodney would never give us away!"
Elana also stood, "Neither would Garin, he would die before he would let Wraith take the city!"
"Sit down Major, Doctor." They both did at Elizabeth's order, glaring at Bates.
He firmly defended his position, "That one body contains more information about this city then we can imagine. We need to take some sort of extra precautions."
"That is a perfectly viable suggestion and I agree we need to further instigate security measures. Now let's move on to how we are going to find him."
Aiden brought up, "Couldn't he be anywhere by now? There's hundreds, thousands of Gates he could have went to."
"Luckily we have someone who knows Garin Trelio." Elizabeth turned towards her, "Elana?"
"I could suggest a few planets. At least it would be a start."
After taking a deep breath, John commented on the behavior he witnessed, "I saw Rodney in that Jumper, it seemed he was fighting with him. Garin doesn't have full control anymore."
"That's good news." Elizabeth observed.
"Actually, no. A constant struggle over control would be very stressful. Much unlike the mutual use Kate and Elana have. He would be quite unstable." Radek didn't like being the bearer of bad news, but it was necessary.
Teyla's usually calm voice was now betraying her concern, "He wouldn't be able to fly a Jumper in such a state."
Aiden asked, "What would happen if this struggle continues?"
Peter replied, "We cannot say for certain, but it wouldn't be good."
"All the more reason to get him back here sooner and remove Garin. From what I understand, it wouldn't take more than a few seconds."
Carson added to the news, "I'm afraid it's not that simple Elizabeth. The suppressant Garin used also acts like a binder, keeping the downloaded consciousness in the person's mind. I have to make a counter agent to flush it out of his system, but we found the specifications in his computer."
John raised his eyebrow at the new piece of information, "Well, how long will that take?"
"A few hours to make and a few more for it to work."
"Then I suggest we get started. Major, you and your team will start immediately searching the planets Elana provides the addresses for." Elizabeth stood, signaling the end of the meeting. "Let's get back our Chief Scientist."
Xxx xxx
Rodney's eyes fluttered slightly open to the view of a smooth surface. He grunted with pain as he felt it with his right hand, the surface was covered in something wet and lukewarm. Lifting his head, he looked at his fingertips and saw that the liquid was red.
He sighed, "Perfect," and braced himself with his right arm, then swung his left gently so his hand was resting flat and pushed up. But when he did he let out a cry of pain and slumped back on his face. His left arm was broken.
He more carefully rolled over to his back, feeling an immense pain throughout his lower back, his chest, his head, his arm… pretty much everywhere. Rodney tried to remember what had just happened… the Jumper was spinning… why was it spinning? Right, fighting with Garin. Where is he? Oh in my head… I have control…what a great fucking time to get it…wonder if he's gone…
He moved his right hand the back of his head and felt the blood matted hair, he couldn't tell if it was coming from a head wound, or it was just because he was laying in a puddle of his own blood.
Rodney sat up slowly and immediately regretted it, his head becoming increasingly dizzy, and his side aching terribly, but he had to figure out where he was. He looked straight ahead through smoke from the short circuits and only saw the window, so he looked up and saw the four chairs and the console on the ceiling. Dim light was streaming in from the window, penetrating the smoke.
Why are they on the ceiling? … no I'm on the ceiling… upside down…
He turned his head a little and looked at the rest of the space. Ancient equipment had been wrenched out of their storage places and was now resting on the ceiling of the Jumper with him.
He closed his eyes at the sudden onslaught of dizziness, attempting to make it disappear. He was so tired, he just wanted to keep his eyes closed and sleep, but then he remembered the blood, he had to find out where it was coming from.
He slowly pawed at his shirt and with his right hand lifted it up.
"Oh god…" There was a good size gash in his left side that was bleeding moderately. He muttered, "How'd I get that?" He looked up at was actually the floor of the Jumper to look for a suspect, his eyes falling on a sharp corner.
"Great…"
He kept probing his body, having lifted his shirt up and gripping it with his teeth, gently holding his left hand over the gash. All the blood on the floor couldn't have been coming from only from that, though his hand was now covered in it.
He pushed on his chest and let out a muffled scream. Deciding not to do that again because he had to have broken ribs or something, he moved his attention to his legs. He leaned forward and hissed, that wasn't too good for his side wound, it sent a sharp pain through his side, and it also started another dizzy spell. After taking a moment, he looked down at his leg and could see that his right pant leg was soaked with blood and tried to move it, which he did successfully. But it hurt his calf muscle too much, the muscle started to throb, so he laid it back on the ground. He pried at the material with his right hand and found a long tear on the side of his lower leg. The other blood was definitely pouring out from there.
He had no idea how long he was out on the ceiling of the Jumper for, or exactly how much blood had leaked from his body, but he knew he had to get out of there. No one would know where he was, so it was up to him.
He thought he should find the med kit first to bandage what he could. There was one problem, this Jumper was in the auxiliary room, not the bay, so it wasn't as if Carson could have put one in. Then he remembered Garin had grabbed his mission pack, which of course had to be in the back section of the Jumper, and he was in the front. He mentally braced himself and reached out for the wall with his good arm. He found it, firmly placed his hand on it, and carefully stood on his left leg.
He was facing the front of the Jumper, so he had to turn around. He did feebly, hopping on his good leg, dragging the right. Thankfully, he was near the doorway to the back of the Jumper and he hobbled through, still clutching his side wound.
Rodney spied the pack thrown against the left side and walked over to it. He sunk to the ground, leaning against the wall, the bench seats above him. After wiping his brow, he opened the front pocket and pulled out a large sterile cloth bandage that he placed over the side gash carefully, hissing as he applied pressure. He had difficulty wrapping tape around it to keep it in place, but got it done.
He wondered if he did it right, if he was even thinking clearly, but he moved on to his leg. He applied another bandage, weaving it through the tear in his pants directly on the wound, and wrapped that as tight as he could as well.
Rodney yawned wearily, he was just so tired, and he hurt so much. All he could do was think about the pain. He grabbed the morphine bottle from the pack, but hastily put it back, a morphine haze wouldn't do, he needed to be alert, so he opted for some over-the-counter pills instead. He then took out a roll of gauze and unrolled some, trying to make an imitation sling for his arm, but gave up. He'd do without it. Out of frustration, he threw his pack against the other wall, and it fell with a thud in the corner.
He looked at the bandage on the side wound which was already completely red and sighed.
Plan… he needed a plan. The Jumper was of no use so he had to get to the Gate, it had to be around there somewhere and he vaguely recalled flying over a DHD, so dialing wouldn't be a problem. Then he remembered about the GDO, he looked at his wrist, nope not there. Damn it. Even if he could reach the Gate there was no way to…
He saw his mission pack over in the corner by the rear hatch. Rodney stood up the same way as the time before and slowly made his way over, cursing himself for being so stupid as to throw it over, fighting the swirling dizziness he faced when he did. He picked it up and opened the main section, pulling all the contents out slowly. There were clothes Garin stuffed in there, along with chocolate and power bars, and a canteen of water. Good, but not what he was looking for. He turned the bag over and the GDO fell out.
Rodney sighed of relief as his head continued to pound and sunk to the floor, leaning against the wall. He opened the canteen and took a long swig. He was panting, the past few minutes had exerted him more than he would admit, and his head was still pounding. He decided to take a break before he made the trek to the Gate, eat something. He grabbed a chocolate bar with his right hand and used his teeth to tear it open. He yawned again, and after taking a few bites, closed his eyes.
He was just so tired, he knew he most likely had a concussion so he shouldn't sleep, but he would just rest his eyes for a little while and block out the pain.
Before long, he wasn't conscious anymore.
TBC…
