"What happened?" Teyla groaned as she grabbed her forehead.
"We were hoping you could tell us," Weir said softly.
"I was trying to enter Dr. McKay's mind, but that thing pushed me out. He also laughed at me." She looked embarrassed, angry, and disgusted.
"Could you find anything out?"
"No, he is formidable. I did not have time to do anything." She sighed, "I am sorry."
"No, I'm sorry." She sat down next to the bed. "This is a scenario I would not have come up with. Rodney. He either chose or lucked into Rodney."
"Yes Dr. Weir, the one person who could bring Atlantis to its knees." Teyla sat up in her bed. "He also took out the one person who could have a chance to stop him."
"I must confess, my heart is in my throat about what is happening or what could be happening on Parcini. And here we sit defenseless and trapped and totally unable to help."
"Dr. McKay is there Dr. Weir. He is not lost." She paused for a moment. "That is why the Wraith consciousness is so strong. The Wraith could not do that to me without him."
"That is good and bad isn't it Teyla?"
"Yes, but it gives us hope we can get him back." She gave a small smile. "We are missing pieces of the puzzle. When Col. Sheppard comes back, hopefully he can help."
"I'll let you sleep." Weir stood up.
"He will come through the Stargate and know what to do." She stated it with such conviction, Weir almost believed it herself. Uncertainty still crept in.
--------------
His entire body was on fire.
"Sir! Sir!" Stackhouse came running down the hall. The sudden screaming scared the shit out of him. When he skidded to a stop at the office they had taken up residence in, Dr. Kusinagi was trying to calm Sheppard.
"Please colonel, please, what is wrong?" She seemed to be the only one brave enough to get close. The rest of the team stood back and lined the walls
His nerves, he could feel every nerve ending in his body. And they all hated him.
"Make it stop! Please get this stuff off of me!" He pleaded to her. "Please Dr. K., please!"
"The material is healing you." She contemplated what the material was doing in between yells and then it hit her. "Your nerves, it must be regenerating your nerves."
Ronon also came to an abrupt stop behind Stackhouse. "What is happening?" He shouted over the din.
"I'm on fire!" He was still trying to remove the gauze.
"You need to leave it Sir. Dr. K., is there anything we can do?"
"I don't think the Advil will help. This is painful but is a good sign; he is getting better." She turned back to Sheppard. "Shh, it is helping you."
"Hold him down," Stackhouse ordered. "But try to be gentle, grab the cloth; we don't need him getting an infection."
"Let go! Stop it!" He was beyond panic, beyond caring, and beyond reasoning.
For two hours he cursed the small group of people. He cursed their existence and cursed their parentage. He cursed the self-righteous pricks called the Ancients. He cursed the arrogant, monologing assholes called the Wraith. He cursed General O'Neill and Daniel Jackson. He cursed his sorry ass for sitting in the goddamn chair.
Two, long, exhausting hours, but the screaming finally stopped. Sheppard finally passed out. Everyone else just slumped against the wall.
"We may need to check on the surface," said Dex breaking the silence.
"Cullings take a while. It's been what?" Stackhouse checked his watch, "Four and a half or five hours? We'll check in another hour."
They had already turned off all systems and pretty much sat in the dark.
"Let's make ourselves look unobtrusive. We are a dark hole." That had been Stackhouse's simple tactic, so Kusinagi and Kramer commanded a power down.
Simpson spoke next. "Hope he can't OD on that stuff. We don't know what properties about it are healing him."
"I didn't see we had much choice really, doctor," countered Stackhouse, "His skin was burned off on parts of him. We knew that stuff helped. So far, he hasn't even had a trace of infection."
"I know, I'm just…Doesn't matter, it was the only option." She just slumped even further down the wall.
"No doctor, you're right. However, it was the only option I saw."
"It seems to be working fine on us. No bad reactions here," added Ronon. He and Stackhouse used some of the gauze from a first aid kit on their burns. It had an immediate effect; it took the pain right away. Their injuries were almost completely healed.
"Yeah, but we don't have as much on us as Col. Sheppard."
Silence descended on them once again as they tried to catch cat-naps. Periodic checks on Sheppard showed that the gauze was repairing the damage done by the jellyfish and Dr. McKay. Hopefully, his memory loss would only be temporary.
After the hour had passed, Stackhouse gave the go ahead to check the surface.
"OK, Kramer and Dex go to Level 2. It's been about 6 hours. The life sign scanner should pick up anyone on the surface."
Kramer and Dex stood up and walked down the corridor to the ladder. They climbed up to Level 2 and Kramer activated the device. It lit up like a Light Bright.
"Damn, multiple contacts." Kramer looked back down at Dex. "Looks like we stay put."
They started descending. "The Wraith don't have any devices like this do they?"
"Not that I have seen. I think they would have used it to follow me. Why?"
"I was just thinking if we could see them, then couldn't they see us?'
"They like the thrill of the hunt too much. A device like that would make it too easy. I'm sure darts have some sensors but I have never seen one on a ground soldier." Dex looked up at the young soldier. "We will disappear anyway the deeper we go."
"I sure hope so."
--------------
A/N: Still perched atop the rollercoaster waiting for the drop? Just stay tuned... Please keep up the morale of those on Atlantis- review.