I Spy with My Little Eye
"Rodney, Katie says to bring back something for her…Rodney?" He heard Elizabeth say trying to tease him.
McKay knew what was next. He looked over at an unconscious Teyla and Ronon. They were not on the menu. He was a good substitute but there was nothing like a true delicacy- a morsel of Atlantean goodness.
He wanted to yell, scream, warn, cry, anything than just lay there immobile facing the Stargate. Above him, the orbs waited patiently for the next selection. Their shadows on the base of the ring and the whirring of their little engines told him they were still there.
Time ground to a crawl. The toe of a boot protruded from the puddle and kept coming. The dark, spiky, bed head was next. Then time sped back up to normal as Sheppard exited with a grin on his face that immediately changed to an 'oh crap' expression.
No sooner had Sheppard reconstituted from Gate travel; he was dematerialized and taken into one of the orbs. Now the other lowered itself in front of McKay. The light surrounding a giant iris flashed green.
"Rodney can you hear me? Teyla? Ronon? Col. Sheppard?" Elizabeth was getting that worried tone.
Since he could not wear the 'oh crap' expression, he thought it. A bright light enveloped him and he too was reduced to data.
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"Hellooo! Hellooo! Oh come on! You've brought me here for some reason. The least you can do is…"
The door opened.
"…answer me."
A very large man stood in the doorway. He wore a wide brim hat and a light shirt with a khaki style pant. He had a casual smile on his face and held out his two hands- palms up.
"I come in greetings and salutations Dr. Rodney McKay."
"Wonderful. Now can I leave with so longs and farewells?" Rodney jutted his chin out.
"No, not yet, if ever." The man stepped into the room. It contained a bed, a side table and another door to what could only be called an indoor outhouse.
"Col. Sheppard. Where is Col. Sheppard?" He kept his chin in place as he called on any bravado dwelling in him.
"He's busy." The man completely blocked the doorway. "Unfortunately, he's not cooperating or the machinery isn't fully working yet."
Dread decked his bravado. Flippant. Sheppard was flippant and would not go gently…
"What are you talking about? What are you doing?" Rodney's eyes fixed onto the fleshy man with an intense glare. "What machinery?"
"We'll get to that doctor." The man turned and walked out of the room leaving the door open. "Well, aren't you coming?"
"Where?" Rodney scrambled to catch up. He had not forgotten the avoidance of his questions but he would gather as much information as possible.
"On a tour. I need you to run my operation, Dr. McKay." The man started walking down the hall. He spoke with the confidence of a person who was use to getting his way.
"How do you know my name?"
"I've been looking for you. You're the most knowledgeable person of Ancestral tech and we have Ancestral tech, plus more. With the Wraith on the way, we need to find something to keep them at bay."
"What about Col. Sheppard? What do you need him for?" As if he did not already know.
"He's an Ancestor, or at least as close as we're going to get. I could make sacks full of coins just putting him on display and lighting up a few trinkets. I could do that with you too. My self-preservation comes first, and then making a few extra coins- if he survives- comes later." He walked to a set of stairs. He ran his hand on the banister all the way down. They ended up in another long hallway with a large door at the end.
Rodney had not missed the big "if" in the man's statement. He bristled as dread stomped all over his bravado now.
Another set of footsteps behind him made him pivot quickly. A large, very tall, steely eyed man blocked the way they had just come. A chuckle from up ahead of him snapped his attention back to his host.
The man called over his shoulder, "That's Bama, my right hand man. An enforcer of my will, don't make me use him on you."
Rodney gave a nervous smirk at Bama and followed his host through the door into an office.
"The brains of my operation," said the man proudly while gesturing Rodney to a chair in front of a large desk. The man sat behind the desk and Bama stood behind McKay.
McKay looked the interior over. Very not Ancient. Very familiar. Very frightening.
"Dr. McKay, my home is over a labyrinth. An entire installation, I've been studying for years. The only problem, nothing worked. So after each room was searched it was either used for storage or simply locked up. That is until one day a new employee went in there to retrieve a box of tools. The place allowed him entrance with out touching a door and the room lit up. He kept turning on different rooms and some equipment. Well, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise."
His host put both elbows on his desk and his chins on the top of his knuckles. "Then these fantastical stories of new residents of the lost city reached my ears. And low and behold these people could do the very same thing as my lowly employee. And I just knew I had to meet these people."
"You see Dr. McKay, what some deemed as arrogance in your people; I view as a gift. I was sorry to hear that the great city was destroyed."
Rodney flinched and let his eyes begin their frenzied dart around the office. "Yeah…well…no choice…couldn't let the Wraith have it."
"As I said, it was a shame, but I understand. Don't fear; this isn't revenge. This is just curiosity and a quest for knowledge." The man smiled benevolently at McKay. "Calm yourself doctor. I need you, but of course, your reputation precedes you. So I know how ingenious you can be and lethal. Col. Sheppard too. I just happen to luck into your visit to the Mau. Their plues are to die for."
McKay laughed to himself. Sheppard had called this a little boring trip to an orchard. They found the wicked witch offering the poison apple, again, and he looked like Orson Wells.
"Speaking of Col. Sheppard, let's go see him. I know you need to make sure he's here and alive."
McKay did not answer but frowned instead. He most certainly did not like where this was going.
Fetal pig. Here piggy, piggy, sooey.
Let's place you in an uncomfortable chair that balls you up into a fetal position so your spine is curved and it's easier to insert probes or needles or skewers in between the vertebrae. Then, let's have those same sharp pointy sticks bore holes into the base of your skull. Oh let's not forget these people don't seem to have any idea how to operate said chair.
It made the boring apple run look really good.
"OK, try that sequence there."
Electricity (or some sort of current) raced up his spine and into his head. He could not breathe; he could not scream; so he just convulsed silently.
"No, no that just released another current." More whispering floated by him. "Yes, yes I see it's a progression. Let's go in the order laid out."
The chair moved from a cradle position to an upright position to a facing downward position. Gravity pulled on him as he faced a console. He winced from the pinch to his skin from the sharp pointy things in his back. An arm protruded from the console with something like an IV port on the end. The chair moved towards it until it rested his stomach over the arm. Then the arm punched at his stomach and the port was inserted right into his digestive system.
It hurt. A lot. His mouth opened wide as the room remained quiet except for the movement of the chair.
The chair rose away and returned to a cradle position.
"Next sequence."
More probes placed a similar port in his chest right under the collar bone. Once again, it hurt. A lot. And the room still remained silent.
"It now seems to be waiting for a command."
Great.
"Press the affirmative."
No, no don't press the affirmative.
The chair began the rotation again, and gravity began its pull and he faced the console again. It lowered again and this time an emulsion was delivered into his stomach port.
Golly, thanks for dinner. Strained gruel- mmm, mmm, good.
"Are you sure he is of the Ancestors?"
"Well, the chair has only reacted to him and he was living in the Great City."
"But it seems he isn't able to command any of this."
"They said he was stubborn and arrogant. Maybe he's just not cooperating."
I'm cooperating here. No need to get snippy. He cackled silently to himself. This isn't Ancient. It's…
"Well, let's try the automated program, it's next."
Shit…it's not Ancient…it's…it's…
His body exploded from the current racing through every nerve ending. He was losing consciousness when the port in his chest was injected with something that made his mind race. It purposefully kept him lucid, awake and alive in the moment. His heart felt as if it was about beat out of chest. His muscles twitched where he did not know he had muscles; his eyes watered; and his stomach released that cereal from earlier. He lost track of what hurt after a while because it was everything and then he saw McKay.
"What, don't you trust me Colonel?" The glow of the laptop shadowed McKay's face.
Sheppard stood next to the stasis pod and, as if it was readily apparent, he snidely retorted, "No!"
He had thrown that 'No' back into McKay's face. It might as well have given him a bloody nose from the force of the lack of faith it held.
Oh McKay, I was wrong.
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A/N: Yikes Shep, sorry 'bout that. Hey McKay! Wonder if Orson is easier to work for than Elizabeth?