A/N's: Chapter 4 reviewers…
rogue1503, you are evil. Just by asking for a sequel you have plotted a bunny in my head. A rather small one, but still, I have the first two chapters outlined for it (set in between these two, I do have five months to play with) and it's growing, gnawing at my leg along with the bunnies for this. Wait, what right do you have to do that to me? As Titan5 said 'get to work woman' on your own fics and not inspiring more and getting massages… :-D
Anyway the point was that this story sprung from a title my beta gave me and a review by fanficaddict (glad you like the two Rodneys! Especially since you sparked this story, be proud! Boy am I glad I accept anonymous reviews) quoting Peter's line in Chapter 12 "The only thing it could do is make a copy of him." Then I edited the next chapters to make my sequel idea make sense… and here it is, Copy Rodney wreaking havoc. Well, not so much as the sub is wreaking havoc... or is it something else? Muahahaha you'll have to read and find out. So, asking for a sequel sometimes does get you one!
Cpt. Ritter, I had Copy Rodney used 'fuck' out of wrath then I figured the original would respond with the same anger, and let's face it, the character is a grown man, just can't swear on t.v. so it might sound odd out in fanfiction world. I've read a couple spectacular series/stories that use naughty language, so I don't think it really matters or degrades anything… Oh and Teyla was always my weakest character, you have caught on, I try though. I think this chapter is okay for her. This is quite a punishment for Ronon, isn't it?
krysalys – so, cheering now? I hope so, I like to imagine people are cheering when a new chapter is posted.
drufan- I did mildly screw RL few times this week to do this, but I managed to get everything I needed to done, including paying my bill to the university Friday with an hour to spare or face a couple hundred dollars in late fees, eek that was close.
fififolle- the Lorne/Radek/Alexa bit was fun to write, I extended the last part of it at the last minute actually, post-beta.
Wow… I'm done now, sorry this A/N was so long!
Chapter 5-Trouble Down Under
Elizabeth Weir was in her office, meeting with one of the new scientists that arrived the previous day, a French anthropologist, Dr. Philippe Mauseu with an ATA gene comparative to Lt. Col. Sheppard's. It was one of her usual informal interviews she held to get to know the expedition members better, she didn't want to seem to them as if she was some untouchable figurehead.
Philippe leaned back in his chair to relax, "I have been warned, Dr. Weir, to watch out for Dr. McKay given my hereditary luck."
She smiled a little, "He can be quite persistent, but I don't think you'll have too much of a problem." She was referring to the Frenchman's 6'2" stature and athletic build, not to mention his wit that, given a chance, was so sharp it could slice a rock in two.
He returned the smile, "I have also been told that by Dr. Stroh."
Elizabeth recalled that Alexa Stroh never had many arguments with Rodney, in fact, he seemed to leave her well enough alone unless they were working on something at the same time. He would have Zelenka review her work instead. She always wondered why, not that it was a bad thing. She decided to investigate the situation at another occasion and returned to the conversation, "Oh, well then she and I are in agreement. I hope you'll like it here, once you're fully settled."
"I'm sure I will." The heavy-accented Frenchman leaned slightly forward towards the desk, and consequently Elizabeth. "It is a beautiful city."
She gave a subtle nod, holding her ground, "The magnificence of the place does make living under threat more bearable."
They were interrupted when her comm. link activated.
"Dr. Weir?"
She turned away from Dr. Mauseu, "Yes, Sergeant?"
"Colonel Sheppard and his team have failed to report in at the scheduled time."
"How late are they?"
"Ten minutes, should I try reaching them?"
"By all means." They were on an important mission, and she hoped they just lost track of time.
"Be back with you in a moment, Ma'am."
The comm. shut down, and she turned back to the doctor, "So, where were we?"
"Discussing the beauty of Atlantis."
What is it with the French and beauty… "Yes, that's right." She was distracted by the team not checking in. It wasn't as if they could have gone anywhere out of reach.
"Being a diplomat, I assume you have traveled the world. Have you seen any city comparable to this one?"
"Earth does have spectacular cities of its own right, doctor, but this is on a completely different level. You are well-traveled yourself, have you visited one that could even compare to here?"
He chuckled, "When I travel, it's to remote corners of the planet, barely staying in a major city for more than a few hours. What I'm interested is buried in history and time."
Her reply was cut off before it began by her headset, "Dr. Weir, I am getting no response on all channels."
She kept her sigh to herself and turned her head away, "Keep trying at regular intervals, sergeant."
"Yes, Ma'am."
The link severed once again and Philippe spoke, concern and curiosity in his voice, "Anything the matter?"
Elizabeth folded her hands in her lap, "I hope not."
-
"This cannot be right." Radek was bent over his laptop in his own lab during Dr. Mauseu's interview with Dr. Weir. Alexa Stroh sitting next to him. It was reaching two hours since they first left for the storage room and almost a full one since they started going over the footage from the security cameras. Garin's console was sitting prettily over by a counter.
Alexa rested her elbow on his desk and propped up her chin with her hand, "Someone was obviously in there, they should have been caught."
"But they were not. Peculiar, isn't it?"
"Not as much as some other things I've heard about this place. Like a certain doctor with his own little factory somewhere?" She grinned.
Radek coughed, "No idea what you are talking about." The new people weren't supposed to know about his alcohol operation…must have leaked out.
"Right. Anyway, there has to be an explanation. I'll work in it, I'm sure Dr. Weir wants some new reports on that fissure since we haven't been able to find anything here. Has Sub 1 checked in yet?"
"Not that I know of," He stood. "I'll be in Control Room for a few minutes, then I'll be back to check Trelio's computer." He didn't want anyone else to, he and Peter Grodin were the ones that had actually studied it, so there was no one remaining but him and Rodney with previous experience.
"That will be fine."
He glanced back to see her beginning to go through the hours of footage again, not moving or seemingly intending to. He walked through the hall not thinking about leaving her alone in his lab, other than he strangely didn't want to go.
He entered the transporter at the end of the hall, pressed a coordinate, and the door closed. When it opened, he was outside the Control Room, the quickness of it was something that never ceased to amaze him. It made perfect sense though, that a race that built interstellar travel devices could devise one for a building, city, well really a spaceship.
Radek headed to where the main sensory consoles were, passing the young Sergeant on the way. He took the opportunity, "Anything from Sub 1 yet?"
The dark hair soldier turned around from the comm. console, "No, nothing yet, sir. I've been trying but I get no response."
Worry crept into Radek's expression, "Does Dr. Weir know?"
"Yes."
He walked to the consoles, activating his own headset, "Dr. Weir?"
"Zelenka? I was about to contact you. The Colonel's team is out of communication."
"I just found out. I'm going to run some scans of the fissure, I should be able to detect if anything is wrong with Sub 1, at least where it is."
"Tell me what you find." She thought they were really accumulating problems that day. The fissure, the storage room that had Dr. Trelio's computer in it was intruded into, and now Sheppard, McKay, Teyla, and Ronon were playing hooky from check-ins.
"I always do."
With the link severed, he started business scanning the bottom of the ocean where the team was dispatched, thousands of meters under the surface, not on Atlantis's comparably shallow plateau.
---
Her eyes opened slowly and painfully, squinting around at the low and flickering light, and the floor of the submarine. She was on her stomach and felt the metallic surface, it seemed cold, and it was wet. Her head wasn't quite clear yet, the memories slowly coming back of the crash.
She pushed herself up, immediately noticing the pain radiating up from her left shoulder, so she used just the one. Then she saw that the floor was stained red. That's why it was wet, it wasn't water…
Teyla felt otherwise mostly fine and eyed the sub, Sheppard was crumpled in the corner next to McKay and Ronon was a few feet from them. All still had their eyes closed. She saw a line of blood coming from where the two members of the senior staff were laying.
She was sitting up, standing had somehow failed her, and she called out, "Colonel?" No answer. "Rodney?" None either. "Ronon?" Nope. She knew she had to get over there somehow and with right arm, pushed off the floor onto her legs successfully this time; they were stiff but were working. The crash just threw her around a bit.
It wasn't far to where the slow flow of blood was coming from, and she crouched on her tiptoes. But that hurt her knees so she opted to rest sitting down, where it was still clean. She gently checked over Rodney, the closer one to her, but couldn't immediately see any wound.
Then she saw John's head. Rather the back of it. His head was drooped forward and the back of it matted.
"Mmm…" She heard a deep breath coming from Rodney and then a hoarse cough. He automatically brought his hand up to his mouth and after a moment's fit opened his eyes, looked at his hand, and muttered in a bit of shock, "Blood…"
"Rodney?"
He looked up and rubbed his eyes with his left hand, "Teyla, are you okay, the Colonel? Ronon?" He hissed at his next breath, pain pricking throughout his chest area. "Oh god, that hurts… I …" He turned his head to his right and saw John laying there and his face fell, forgetting his own pain.
"I haven't had the chance to look at him closely, but he does have a head wound."
Rodney pushed himself up, and fell back to the ground, Teyla rushing to his aid, "No," He gently pushed her away, "Just get me-" another bloody cough, "the med kit from the back. Can you?"
"I'm fine, it's only a sore shoulder. Do not move." She turned and headed over for Ronon. She checked him all over carefully but couldn't find anything wrong with him, at least on the surface.
As she was walking to the back of the submarine where Dr. Beckett had rather ample kits placed, she heard Rodney talking to John.
"Colonel, come on…Damn it, don't play around." Another cough, "I can feel you have a pulse…Colonel… John… damn it…"
She then heard some scuffling and him continuing, "Hey, you, copy me. Wake your lazy ass up…" The coughing continued, this time it seemed worse, "No? Then fine. Ronon, helooo, Ronon, I'm sure you want your body back, though I don't know why you'd want it right now, being ban-" He was stopped by a violent cough, and suddenly Teyla was at his side, a cloth in hand and she placed it up to his mouth.
"You should not exert yourself." He stopped coughing and she pulled the cloth back, the front side was almost covered in blood.
Rodney plopped against the wall, now between Ronon and John as Teyla attended to the Colonel, "I know." He closed his eyes and set his head back, talking in between breaths, "Chest… really… hurts…"
After wrapping John's head, the only thing she felt she could do at the moment, she pulled out some pain-killers from the kit and prepped Rodney's arm.
"What…are…you…doing?"
"I would assume you would like to not be in so much pain."
"Oh, of course…" He coughed again, his legs coming up. "I really don't…" He would usually be ranting about how much he hurt, but talking hurt more so he opted to say as little as possible now.
Teyla gave Rodney his pain-killers and wondered how they would get out of there. It was then she noticed the heat, and how close they were to the glowing red fissure.
---
"Dr. Weir!"
She looked up from her laptop to see Dr. Zelenka rushing in her office, wispy hair blowing back, a computer pad in hand. "What is it?"
"I've just finished with the scans," He turned the pad to her, "It is not good."
She looked them over, the numbers and sequences honestly not making much sense instantaneously, "I'm looking at what, exactly?"
"Oh, the city's scanners are being increasingly distorted, especially close to the ocean floor, but I have still been able to decipher the temperature is rising." His face lowered into an even more worried expression, "I cannot locate Sub 1 either."
"No where at all?" Her face tightened to not betray her emotions.
"At first I scanned the projected location where they should be and found nothing. Then I widened the search, nothing. They would have to be on or near the bottom where the sensors are being interfered with, but at the fastest rate the submarine can function at, I don't know how they got there so quickly."
Elizabeth took a breath, "I know its sensors were being altered before, but how about the Daedalus, would it be capable of detecting them?"
"It is different systems, worth an attempt."
"I'll contact Col. Caldwell." She turned to leave her office, being stopped by Radek's voice.
"Dr. Weir, there's more."
"More? Well, go on."
"Dr. Stroh and I have been analyzing the security footage from 27D, we have still been unable to find anything. I'm on my way back to my lab to check over Trelio's console."
Elizabeth arched her eyebrow, "You don't think it was used by the person, do you?"
"Well, it's a possibility I want to look over."
"Understood."
They both left her office in compatible silence and headed their separate ways, Zelenka to his lab and Dr. Weir to the communications console on the Control Room balcony.
She had the Sergeant open a channel to the Daedalus, "Colonel Caldwell?" He had been unable to attend the briefing that morning due to a minor unexpected situation on his ship, but had been filled in about the situation.
After a brief moment a voice came through, "What can I do for you today, doctor?" He walked down the hall that headed to the bridge with one of his more senior crew.
She sensed the subtle sarcasm in his voice, "Lt. Col. Sheppard and his team have gone missing on their mission. All attempts at communication have been unresponsive and Atlantis's sensors have been unable to locate them."
"You would like us to attempt to establish their location." He strolled onto the bridge.
"If you would be so kind." She always felt like they were playing cat-and-mouse.
"My ship's resources are at your disposal. We'll do all we can to find them. Caldwell out."
---
"What are you doing?" Rodney pushed Teyla's prying hands away.
"I need to see if there's anything I can do for you, you're not doing so well. You should sit down." She didn't have a hard time before when she made him drink some water and eat a little.
He kept fiddling with a panel under the front console, "Oh and who is going to fix this? Hmm?" He was stopped by a wet cough, and continued, "I don't know if you've noticed but the Colonel is still unconscious, not to mention mega-me over there." The panel popped open and he sat down in front of it anyway, aware that was what she wanted.
She looked at the scientist, his color pale, skin sweating but eerily cold, clammy, and he looked overall sick. Not a good look on him. John looked the same and he had a rapid pulse. They had laid him out on the floor next to Ronon who had a regular and strong pulse, but neither would wake up. John's head was on her bundled jacket, Ronon's on the one Rodney had discarded from the uncomfortable temperature.
"And what is it you're doing?" She knelt by the Colonel's side in the still flickering light from the emergency power and started gently stroking his forehead.
"Seeing what is wrong with the-" Yet another cough, "Damn it… the life-support. It's connected with the emergency power just in case the main systems faulted. I thought I fixed it before. The crash must have messed with it." He was worried about the rising temperature of the submarine, if they were going to die, it was going to be in a nice air-conditioned place, not boiling like in hell. A very strange hell. Maybe the universe was punishing him after all.
"The fissure is still emitting heat, how much would that help?"
He kept working, "It's all that we've got at the moment, so just let me-" He coughed once more, using a new cloth to wipe his blood-stained lips.
Teyla's worry was escalating with every cough from Rodney, they was definitely something wrong with his lungs and chest. There wasn't anything to do about it though, not without an infirmary. The same for John and Ronon, they needed to get back to Atlantis, but it wasn't looking as if that would ever happen. But she would continue to have hope, or they would have nothing.
She found something good to be thankful for, "At least there are no leaks."
Rodney scoffed, "Yea. That would be all we need right now. The subs themselves were built to withstand a great force, but it didn't help us much."
Teyla looked down at John, who she know had his head resting on her leg, "That is obvious."
Rodney stood slowly, quickly grabbing the console to steady himself from the onset of dizziness, "I have to go to the back again."
"I'll come with you." She rested John's head back on her jacket gingerly and stood, torn between wanting to stay close to him and watching over Rodney.
"If you insist." He began the walk, it was easier in one aspect since the sub was resting evenly on the ocean floor, but now he felt like he was well, thrown around a sub.
Teyla kept her arm poised behind him, ready to assist if he collapsed. They took a few steps, Teyla glancing back at the two unconscious men, when Rodney started to sway a little. She braced her arm around his waist to steady him, and if he noticed he didn't hint at it.
They approached the panels Rodney had been working on before the crash at the bottom and he pulled a crystal out to examine it, Teyla right behind him. She knew she was lucky that she did not get injured too much, only her left shoulder was throbbing, most likely by getting slammed against something. Nothing she couldn't handle.
"Aha!" Rodney exclaimed as the emergency lights stabilized. "Life-support is back online through where I rerou-" He dug for the cloth from his back pocket and coughed into it.
Teyla placed her hand gently on his shoulder as he continued, "Rerouted from emergency before. Just a minor connection problem." He paused for a cough, "But there has to be a way to bypass the main power conduit without the two bypasses I know of… there is power in the generators but no way to get it to engines or even communications. I'm sure if I had time, lots of time I could figure it out, but that's one thing we don't have."
"I have faith in you."
He was taken aback a bit, "Oh, thanks Teyla." He suddenly started heaving and coughing, the white cloth was quickly becoming completely red.
She still had her hand oh his shoulder, put the other on his back, and guided him to a corner, there being no seats but the four in the front and she didn't think he would make it at that moment, "Lie down, you need to."
He couldn't respond through the most violent and bloody fit he had yet, and sat against the wall. Teyla quickly went and got another cloth and put it to his mouth. He grabbed it gratefully, but by then the coughs were dry and his chest hurt from it. His throat was protesting, but he couldn't stop.
Her eyes fell back to the front of the sub at John and Ronon and wondered how they were all going to stay alive stranded at 20,170 meters underwater, but knew she wouldn't let any one of them die.
A/N: You've probably noticed I have become a bit of a whumper, I just can't seem to help it.
Until the next time… leave me something!