Elizabeth Weir and Rodney McKay were already in conference room near Gate operations. Sheppard entered and carefully eased himself into the chair next to Elizabeth. Dr. Beckett sat to his right. Elizabeth and McKay watched the Colonel with concern then looked at Beckett.

"He should still be in the infirmary." Beckett said in response to their expressions. "I'm just tired of his nagging to let him out."

"You said I should get up and move around a little." Sheppard smiled. "Don't worry, I'll take it easy."

Col. Caldwell entered the room and the door closed behind him. When Sheppard started to stand, Caldwell waved him to stay seated. Caldwell sat and laid a data pad on the table. When he looked up at Sheppard he stopped.

"Should you be out of the infirmary?" Caldwell glanced from Sheppard to Beckett.

"Probably not…" Beckett began.

"Yes, Sir." Sheppard said quickly. "I'm much better, thank you."

"Okay, then let's get on with it. Dr. Weir said you had remembered some things." Caldwell stared at Sheppard.

"Yes, Sir." Sheppard took a deep breath and looked around the room. "As you know, I ordered Ford, Teyla and the others to take up position outside of the Wraith ship. I wanted to take the device in on my own."

"Why, Colonel?" Caldwell stared at him. "Didn't you think you'd need support?"

"I've been on a couple of these hive ships. There are very few Wraith moving around when the ship is in hibernation. I knew where to plant the device and it would be easier for me to slip in and out on my own. I had a life-signs detector with me so I could keep out of the sight.

"Anyway, I was on my way back out when I heard…no, felt, the engines come online. There still wasn't a lot of activity in my area, but I had to duck down a different corridor to avoid a couple of Wraith. By the time I was able to make my way around, the door had closed. Next thing I knew, the ship lifted off." He stopped to sip some water. The others waited silently. "The activity level picked up a bit. Some of the Wraith were waking, but not all of them."

McKay interrupted. "Why not? Didn't they all wake up on the ship where Col. Sumner died?"

"Yes, but I think that was because I killed one of the caretakers and we generally made a lot of noise." Sheppard spoke slowly, deliberately. "They wouldn't have a lot of humans to feed on after being in hibernation for so long. Probably just enough Wraith to get the ship off the ground and begin culling wake up at first. It would explain why I didn't see many of them the first day."

"Teyla thought they would be able to smell you and you wouldn't be able to hide for long. How did you stay out of sight?" Elizabeth asked.

"I know. I went back and picked up the device and found a network of service or air shafts or something. They seem to be between decks. Sometimes it would be at floor level and other times it would be ceiling level. I figured the smell of humans there would cover me, so I made for one of the cocoon chambers. And, I was hoping I might have a chance to get some of them out if the device actually worked. I ended up in a shaft that looked down into the chamber. From the amount of crap, it looked like no-one had been in there in many, many years. It was small and dark, so I thought there was little chance of any Wraith poking around.

"I think the ship went into hyperspace after an about an hour. Other than that, nothing seemed to happen for the first twenty-four hours." He paused for a few seconds. "I do not recommend anyone, Ancient gene or no, sitting on top of that device for very long. The effects are not nice."

"Why did you have it on you?" Elizabeth frowned at him. "Couldn't you have left it were it was?"

"I wanted to be sure they couldn't find it, and move it if I had to. It's a good thing I did." He glanced at Beckett. "The effects are accelerated and more pronounced."

Caldwell looked from Sheppard to Elizabeth and back. "What do you mean?"

Beckett leaned forward, but kept his eyes on Sheppard. "We believe the Ancient gene makes varying amounts of the protein depending on the outside stimulus. That damned weapon makes the gene produce very large amounts of damaged protein instead of the normal protein. The damaged stuff acts like a poison. It affects liver function, prevents sleep, causes altered mental status, and..."

"All of us with the gene had to be sedated until the device was found and deactivated." MacKay offered. "Except Col. Sheppard."

Beckett continued. "He refused to…"

"I don't think he meant that." Sheppard interrupted, watching Caldwell.

"You're right." Caldwell nodded. "Why was it a good thing?"

"I believe that the Wraith ships are more organic than we thought."

"Why?" McKay leaned forward.

"Well, late the first day I was in the shaft, some parts of the walls around me began to change. It's like they started to soften."

"Are you sure? It wasn't a hallucination?" Caldwell asked.

"It was real. Later on, it actually liquefied and I got some of it on my leg. Damn stuff burns."

"We thought it was a chemical burn." Beckett nodded. There was some on your uniform, but we couldn't figure out what it was."

"I saw some deterioration elsewhere, too. Not a lot at first, but it progressed quickly." He paused for a moment, frowning. "After a while, it sounded like there was more movement nearby. I was a few feet back in the shaft so that they wouldn't see me, but I could hear something. I moved forward until I could see down into the chamber and watched for a few minutes. Nothing was moving and the life-signs monitor showed it was clear in the immediate vicinity."

Sheppard stopped to drink from his cup then focused on it. "I couldn't identify the sound, and since whatever it was seemed to be moving deeper in the ship, I thought it best just to stay out of sight. I moved around in the shafts a little to see what I could, but the corridors were pretty dark and mostly empty. The noise I heard came and went over the next twenty-four hours. It didn't sound like it could be the ship, but I couldn't figure it out. Then, I heard something close-by.

"I crawled forward in the shaft to see what was going on. It was a brawl in the chamber where the humans were cocooned. There were several dozen Wraith in the chamber. They were feeding." He struggled to control his breathing. "More Wraith came and they were fighting over the humans. It was as if they couldn't control themselves. They were feeding as fast as they could, pulling people out of the cocoons. They were even pulling out dead bodies, looking for something to feed on."

His voice trailed off, but he still stared at his cup. Elizabeth looked down at the table and closed her eyes for a moment. She did not want to see him go through this again, but looked up, knowing she needed to. Beckett did not take his eyes off Sheppard. McKay watched in shock, but Caldwell's face was unreadable.

"John?" Elizabeth peered closely at him. "John, are you alright?"

"This needs to stop." Beckett stood up.

The movement snapped Sheppard back to the room. He looked around and blinked.

"The frenzy went on for a while. I don't know how long. When there were no humans left alive, the Wraith turned on each other. Then, about a dozen of them with stun weapons got there and started shooting everyone. I saw what was happening to them. I saw what was making them crazy." Sheppard was blinked and looked around the table. "The Wraith were…They were…melting. Their skin was discolored and they had huge sores everywhere. They were all dying."

"So the weapon does work." McKay was both disturbed and satisfied.

"Yeah." Sheppard nodded once. "The noise I'd been hearing was screaming. They were all waking up dying."

"John, I'm sorry. Do you want to stop for a while?" Elizabeth's concern was obvious. She saw Sheppard was pale and sweating.

He shook his head. "No, I'm okay. I want to finish this. Wraith were constantly in and out of the chamber for hours afterward, looking through the bodies. I suppose they were looking to feed. I couldn't read my watch anymore, so I don't know how long I was there. Sometime later, the ship dropped out of hyperspace. The life-signs detector showed it was clear in the area, so I left the shaft and went to try to find a way off. I came across dead Wraith everywhere. More than a few looked like they had been fed on, but most had died of the device's effects. They were decaying so fast, a lot of them were just puddles of ooze, like the specimen we had here."

McKay made a choking noise and screwed up his face. "Oh, God. You mean you…That's you were covered in?"

Sheppard grimaced at McKay. "Thanks for reminding me, Rodney."

"Why doesn't human flesh fall apart? Why only the Wraith?" Caldwell abruptly asked.

Beckett cleared his throat. "We haven't been able to determine exactly why because we haven't observed the process directly. However, we think that it may be something to do with the bug that we believe to be part of the ancestry of the Wraith. It must be in the combination of the two DNA, and the evolution of the species. We just know the walls of every cell are disrupted."

Sheppard rushed on, determined to finish. "It was easier to move around and I found another cocoon chamber. It was the same as before. All of the humans were dead, as well as a lot of Wraith."

"How did you get off, Colonel?" Caldwell was peering closely at Sheppard, eyes narrowed.

"I found the Dart hanger bay, but there were still a lot Wraith alive and moving around. The effects of the device must have taken time to permeate the entire ship."

"Like here." McKay observed.

Sheppard nodded. "I was having a lot of trouble concentrating so I went in circles a few times. Between that and dodging the Wraith, I have no idea how long it actually took me to get to the bay. Anyway, there were only two or three airworthy Darts left. It looked as if a couple of them crashed when trying to take off. Others had signs of being disabled by the device."

"In all this time, you weren't seen by any of them?" Elizabeth asked. She pointed to his arm. "How did that happen?"

"The life-signs detector helped me stay out of sight, but I picked up a stun pistol somewhere. It's much easier to handle. I used it on a couple of Wraith that I ran into. Luckily, they were already dying, so they didn't get up again. This happened when one of the Wraith grabbed me as I was trying to get to a Dart. He kind of fell apart when I shot him." His voice had dropped to a whisper and he closed his eyes.

"Colonel?"

Sheppard blinked and looked around. "Sorry, almost there. I realized we were descending. The Wraith were trying to land the ship. We must have come out of hyperspace near a planet. From what I had seen, the damage to it was getting bad. I came across a few places where the walls had melted completely through. They must have thought they had to land or it would break up.

"Anyway, something happened. At first the descent was under some control, but the damage must have been too severe. I barely got out before the ship rolled and began to burn in the atmosphere. I lost sight of it for a moment trying to keep the Dart under control. The next time I saw it, the ship was breaking up. I kept watching until it crashed then I went down to look for a Stargate. Thankfully, there was one on the planet. I think that's why the Wraith came out of hyperspace there."

The room was quiet for a full minute as the others absorbed what they had heard.

"Do you know where, the Gate address?" Caldwell leaned forward.

"I have no idea what the Gate address is. I didn't recognize the planet and didn't see any sign of inhabitants."

"Did you hear the voices?" McKay asked eagerly.

Caldwell looked from McKay to Sheppard and back. "Voices? What do you mean?"

Beckett spoke up first. "As I said, the side effects of that weapon were many, but one of them was a noise of some sort. It was something like white noise for almost everyone. Col. Sheppard heard…"

"I thought I heard voices talking in Ancient." Sheppard shrugged.

"He was the only one who heard actual voices talking. It was just noise to the rest of us." McKay persisted.

"Rodney, he was awake for a few days longer than the rest of us." Beckett glared at McKay. "We all might have heard voices if we hadn't been sedated."

"But he was speaking in Ancient, too, and in full sentences. He doesn't know more than a handful of words."

"Colonel?" Caldwell looked at Sheppard for an explanation.

"I really don't remember much, Sir. I think I was probably just repeating things I've heard people translating."

'You weren't. Besides, that doesn't explain how you knew where the device was, how to turn it off and how it works." McKay persisted.

"Rodney." Elizabeth tried to stop him, but she knew that once he was on a tangent, it was an almost impossible thing to do.

Caldwell's eyes narrowed. "No, it doesn't. I've read the report, Colonel. You can't explain it?"

"No, Sir, I can't." Sheppard admitted after a moment. He began to push his chair back. "If there's nothing else, Sir, I have…"

"Wait a minute. That was a very interesting story, but how can you expect anyone to believe that a device of that size could destroy a hive ship and kill thousands of Wraith?" Caldwell didn't move.

Elizabeth's voice was icy. "It brought this city to its knees and nearly killed a third of its personnel."

"I may have something for you to see." Sheppard took a deep breath before he stood up. "If you'll come this way, please."

Caldwell, Elizabeth and Beckett pushed their chairs back. The doors began to open. McKay stayed in his chair.

"Are you sure you heard nothing, Colonel?" McKay asked again.

Sheppard turned back and leaned over the table. His voice was shaky. "Rodney, I spent the better part of four days with several thousand dying Wraith all screaming in agony as every cell in their body disintegrated. I don't know if there were any voices whispering in my head. I don't know. Just leave it alone. Please."

McKay looked like he had been hit hard. "I…didn't…. I'm sorry, Colonel."

"Forget it." Sheppard waved his hand as if dismissing the subject.

"Yes, yes, of course." McKay almost whispered.

Sheppard straightened with effort and walked out to the operations area with Caldwell. Elizabeth and Beckett followed, both glaring at McKay as they left. He hung his head dejectedly for a few seconds before getting up and walking out.

As he approached operations, Sheppard nodded at Ford, who tapped the Gate technician on the shoulder. Within moments the wormhole was engaged and the MALP disappeared through it. Everyone crowded around computer screens to watch the image transmitted back from the planet.

Weir frowned at Sheppard. "M5S-273? Isn't that where you were when the trouble with the device started?"

"Yeah."

After scanning the area around the Gate for signs of Wraith, the Marine controlling the MALP asked. "Which way, Sir?"

They all waited as Sheppard gave directions and the Marine guided the MALP through the ruins. He gratefully sat in a chair pushed forward for him.

"I think I went through Gates on two uninhabited planets to make sure I wasn't followed, the one with the waterfalls and Athos." Sheppard explained as the MALP moved through the ruins. Several times, he asked the Marine to stop the MALP and scan the ruins so that he could get his bearings. "Okay, turn right about thirty degrees. Stop. See that column with the pile of rubble leaning on it to the left?"

"Yes, what about it?" Caldwell asked.

"I stashed some things under the column. There're a couple of data recorders and some other important looking stuff wrapped in my jacket." Sheppard looked at the Marine controlling the MALP. "Okay, turn back to the left thirty degrees."

"Where are you going now?" Weir asked.

"Just wait." He pointed to the computer screen. "See that high wall on the left in the distance? Go a few feet past it and turn left ninety degrees."

"It'll take a few minutes to get down there, Sir." The Marine drove the MALP carefully over the debris strewn ground.

"Colonel, you need to rest." Beckett peered at Sheppard. "I shouldn't have allowed this today."

"I'm fine, Doc. It'll only take a few more minutes." Sheppard leaned on the console for support. Beckett and Elizabeth watched him closely.

They all waited in silence, trying to catch a glimpse of what might be at the destination. Ten minutes later, the Marine wiggled the controls to make the MALP stop and turn. There was a stunned silence all around Gate operations. The image that appeared on the screen was a Wraith Dart.

"How did you fly it through the ruins at the Gate, Sir?" Ford asked. "We didn't take a Jumper there because of them."

"I flew as slow as I could and pulled up hard. I think I clipped one of the walls on the right, though." Sheppard exhaled. "And, entering the atmosphere on the planet where the hive ship crashed was rough. It's a little worse for wear, but might be useful. I must have thought this would be the safest place to hide it."

"Well, since it's been there for four days, it may be safe to assume that the Wraith didn't follow you and haven't tracked it down." Caldwell leaned closer to the screen for a better look as the Marine steered the robot around the Dart.

"Okay, Colonel, let's go." Beckett stepped forward. He motioned to Teyla and Ford.

"Well, it's all yours." Sheppard nodded and slowly stood up.

"Why didn't you bring the data recorders back with you the other day?" A chastened McKay asked quietly.

"I could barely carry my P-90 and I still wasn't sure the Wraith hadn't followed me. I was a long way from the Gate. I just couldn't carry them any more." He glanced back at him.

"Any other surprises out there, Colonel?" Caldwell looked from the computer screen to Sheppard.

"I don't think so, Sir. At least not that I remember." He turned and headed for the stairs with Ford and Teyla flanking him and Beckett close behind.

The End