A/N: Thank you for the reviews! Kate, Elisa, Inkysmom and Snow's Lucky Cat... you've won a Scottish Doctor covered in jam! Now on with the story. Unfortunately this chapter is a little... expositiony. Sorry! More flashbacks next chapter, feel free to skim read this one.

The Value of a Memory Is

Chapter Seven - What the Hell?

"What the hell just happened?"

McKay's voice held just the right amount of whine to assure Sheppard that the physicist was completely unharmed. He stared at the absence of a ceiling for a second, feeling an invisible floor beneath his back, and called out cautiously: "Ford? Teyla?"

"Sir."

"I am here, Major." A slender hand suddenly thrust itself into his vision. He gripped it firmly and allowed Teyla to help him to his feet. He felt dizzy, and a little nauseous.

"What…" He stopped, then looked around them. "No, correction – where are we?"

There was nothing. Where there should have been walls, or a ceiling, there was merely null, a void that stretched as far as Sheppard could see. He looked to his right, then to his left, then up, but decided to avoid looking down for fear of vertigo.

"We were in that room," Ford said, slowly. "The one on the Ancient outpost. It was full of smoke and I think I passed out." He gave an experimental cough. "Maybe we're dead."

McKay rolled his eyes. "Right. And this is heaven, I suppose."

Teyla had a deep frown on her face. "This does not resemble the resting place from the stories of my people. And I do not remember dying."

Aiden scuffed his left boot against his right, and looked briefly down to the floor. "But, ah - did anyone else have a kind of, um, life flashing before your life moment?"

Sheppard raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "Your entire life?"

"Well, just a small part of it. One thing, really. I…" Ford cut off and glanced up at his CO. "For a minute I was – it was like I was back home."

"A dream," McKay put in, his tone oddly subdued.

"No. More than a dream." Teyla took a step forward. "It was as though I was reliving part of my life. It was part of my past, but the details were clear and I truly believed I was there."

Sheppard looked slowly between his three team members. "Yeah," he drawled, "I think I know what you're talking about. I was a kid, out playing in the yard."

"It was last Thanksgiving," Aiden explained. "I was gonna tell my family about me leaving."

"I was also a child," Teyla said thoughtfully. "My father was comforting me after I had got lost in the forest."

Sheppard glanced at McKay, who shrugged.

"I was back at my apartment, watching Star Trek."

He raised a skeptical eyebrow, but was met with only a steely, determined look in return, and decided not to bother pressing the issue. "So," he continued, struggling to understand, "we all relive some event from our past and we end up – where?"

"Not the afterlife," McKay said, pointedly.

Sheppard glared at him. "Some answers would be nice, McKay. Any clue as to what that room did?"

The scientist scowled. "I was a little too busy falling unconscious to make any theories, Major."

"Ah…" Ford shifted hesitantly, "what's that?"

He pointed towards the distance where something small and dark was speeding towards them, growing larger and larger against the white. Sheppard took a step back, his hand resting on the butt of his gun, but before he could pull the weapon from its holster the shape was upon them. It resolved itself into a man; a tall, pale skinned, bald man in a long cream robe, who drew to a sudden stop in front of the group.

Dipping his head in greeting the man gave a beatific smile and gestured widely at the emptiness before burying his arms in his sleeves. "Welcome, players. Did you enjoy your prologue?"

Seeing no weapon, Sheppard lowered his hand slowly and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe you should start by telling us where the hell we are."

The man gave another eerie smile. "The start. Did you enjoy your prologue?"

Teyla stepped forward, returning the man's greeting by bowing her head. "We did, thank you. Perhaps you could tell us your name?"

"I am the guide."

Sheppard shifted his weight between his feet, eyeing the stranger cautiously. "The guide? No name? Something a little more personal?"

"My name is Teyla Emmagan," Teyla explained, pointing in turn at her team mates. "This is Major Sheppard, Doctor McKay, and Lieutenant Ford. We come from another planet, the city of…"

"I am the guide," the man repeated, his expression unwavering.

"Yeah," Sheppard interrupted, "we get it. The guide. Where are we? How did we get here?"

"You are at the start. Every player returns here after finishing a level."

There was something oddly stilted about the man's voice, his tone too precise, too formal. John frowned, glancing at his team mates.

McKay stood to his left, his forehead furrowed in deep concentration.

"McKay?"

Suddenly the physicist took a step forward and plunged his arm deep into the stranger's chest. Choking in surprise, Sheppard tried to grab at McKay's arm, but stopped when he saw the effect the invasion was having on the guide. The man's body was flickering, his stomach distorting around McKay's hand, but the glassy eyes and fixed smile remained.

"Hologram," McKay declared smugly, waving his arm several times from side to side before removing his hand. The image of the guide shimmered briefly. "Obvious. The AI is pretty basic."

"AI?" Ford asked, confused, taking a step back.

"Artificial intelligence." The scientist started to pace around the hologram, examining it with a critical eye. The guide didn't blink, staring calmly through McKay as though he wasn't there. "Impressive to look at but not much for responses. I knew the Ancients were experimenting with it, the city's computer system proves that but…"

"Hold on," Sheppard interrupted, gesturing at the hologram, "you mean that he - it - is a computer?"

"Did I not just say that?"

"It has intelligence?" Teyla asked, crinkling her forehead.

"Hardly." McKay came to a stop in front of the guide and stared hard at him. "You're not real, are you?"

The hologram blinked slowly, then replied: "I am the guide. I will lead you through the game."

"But you're not alive?" McKay pressed. "You're part of the computer."

"My purpose is to…"

"I get it," the physicist interrupted, waving a hand dismissively and skimming the surface of the projection. He turned back to his team. "It's nothing more than coded instructions, a set of responses programmed into the computer and designed to interact with us as though it's real. But it isn't particularly sophisticated. I graduated with guys who could cook up something better in their lunch hour." He paused, and said wistfully, "Some of those programs were pretty effective. There was one titled Chantelle…"

"Firmly under the subject of too much information," Sheppard interrupted quickly. "Enough Dungeons and Dragons. Hologram or not, I want to know where the hell are we and how do we get back to the 'gate?"

"You are in the game," the guide helpfully explained.

"You keep saying that," he shot back, "but that doesn't make things any clearer."

McKay rolled his eyes and stepped in front of Sheppard. "What is the game?" he asked, enunciating clearly.

"The game was designed to entertain the players during their sleep. By using the memories of the participants the game builds a real-time environment with which the players can interact. Each player must use their own skill set to achieve each goal and continue to the next level."

"Virtual reality," McKay explained, bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly. "The computer scans our memories and reconstructs them here."

Sheppard massaged his arm. "It felt real enough at the time."

"So this is like that thing in Star Trek?" Aiden asked.

He was answered with a snort. "Don't be ridiculous, Lieutenant. The holodeck was fantasy, a scientific impossibility." McKay turned back to the guide. "How is it done?"

"The atmosphere of the game room or chamber is carefully maintained to keep each player in a state of unconscious receptiveness," the hologram replied, as though reciting from a manual. "Subharmonic frequencies are used to trigger the player's sensory perceptions."

"Think less Star Trek, more Keanu Reeves in the Matrix," McKay summed up succinctly.

Teyla was looking increasingly confused. "So this place is not real? We are still in the locked room, unconscious?"

"And the people in the chambers," Sheppard continued slowly. "They're all playing this game too?"

The guide nodded. "The game was designed to entertain them while they wait."

"While they wait for what?"

"Until the enemy is no longer a threat."

McKay snapped his fingers triumphantly. "The Wraith."

The hologram inclined its head. "They wait for the war to be over."

"But…" Ford began, before a quick hand swipe from Sheppard forced him to close his mouth, sealing his response.

"So," Sheppard continued smoothly, "how do we exit the game?"

"By completing the game."

"No, how do we exit now?"

"You must complete the game to exit," the hologram repeated patiently.

"We do not wish to participate in this game," Teyla put in, taking a step forward. "We wish to return to the room we were in before."

"You must complete…"

"Look," Ford interrupted, "How about you tell us what we have to do to complete the game?"

The hologram fixed him with a delighted smile. "Then you are ready to begin?"

"Is that the only way we're going to get out of here?" Sheppard demanded.

"You must complete…"

"We get it!" McKay snapped, irritably. "God, my old Commodore was more sophisticated than you." He paused. "Could be a side-effect of the power fluctuations. I wonder…"

"McKay," Sheppard growled, taking a deliberate step forward. He turned back to the guide. "You said there were levels, right? Easy to hard?"

The guide nodded.

"Then let's start easy."

Teyla's eyes widened. "Major, are you suggesting we participate in this game?"

"Doesn't look like we've got any choice." He sighed heavily. "Give Elizabeth a couple of hours without us checking in and she'll send a recovery team. We just have to put up with this for as long as it takes them to get us out of here."

She looked doubtful, but nodded. "Very well. Must we play alone?"

"Single or group," the guide said, "but skill sets cannot be shared."

"Group," Sheppard said, without pausing.

The hologram nodded, clapped its hands, and disappeared. The white light that surrounded the team started to dim, filling the space with shadows. Alarmed, Sheppard turned to see Teyla and Ford fading, their outlines growing indistinct, dissolving into twisted silhouettes before vanishing into the black.

"Major!" McKay was panicking, backing away from the darkness that now surrounded them. "What did you do?"

"Me!" Sheppard demanded, struggling to see the physicist in the lessening light. "You said this room was safe! You think this is part of the game?"

McKay opened his mouth to respond, but he had no chance to voice them before he disappeared completely. Sheppard lunged forward, instinct driving him to try and grab the scientist, but the ground suddenly opened up beneath his feet.

With an alarmed cry, he fell.