A/N: The Killer Rabbit wouldn't leave me alone… and then it attacked my beta. Sorry it's been so long, I had an immense amount of work to do (papers, exams, reading…) I know I said don't send me threatening emails/reviews but encouraging ones if it's been awhile after an update are always welcome. Believe it or not or think I'm a little nuts, they do help.

Hopefully I haven't lost anyone.

I've decided to give Grodin's replacement a name. I still miss that Brit…but life goes on. I don't know if the writers ever gave Dr. Simpson a first name either, so I gave her one too.

This has developed into more angst than I originally intended, as I'm sure all you have noticed. It still is more implied than described in detail, but it is there, setting up for Return's prequel in a way, well many, subtly.

On with the show…

Chapter 8- One Down, A Ton to Go

Radek tapped his fingers anxiously on the desk in the security room. He was waiting for the computer to finish its search of all personnel fingerprints. Perhaps if they turned up with only who was supposed to be there, then he could rest easily.

After Rodney woke up and ordered the copy of his consciousness to be erased, Radek and Peter Grodin had gone down to the main lab where they had brought the console for study and promptly did.

Or so they thought.

They had gone through the design of the console as much as they could, it was unlike what they had seen before. Radek thought that it was possible they did miss something, they were just so many backups and redundancies Garin Trelio built in, and it wasn't as if plans were found for that specific technology.

The screen flashed its results and Radek's face fell.

There were three full sets of prints, all of palms. One was when Rodney first set his hand on the, unknowing downloading an Ancient into his head, another was Kate Heightmeyer's, the last was also Rodney's when they extracted Garin.

But there was a set of only fingerprints, ones that shouldn't be there. Radek couldn't believe the name that came up.

A link opened link on his headset, "Zelenka, it's Dr. Weir. We have news."

"As do I. What is yours?"

She walked out to the Control Room, "It might be best if you come up here."

"Yes, see you in a moment." He copied the results from his search onto a computer work-pad and left the room, passing one of the original military members on the way out. He nodded to the man who nodded back and headed out into the hall.

If they didn't really erase all the consciousness data… and it was downloaded into who those prints belonged to… and they just happened to be out of reach at the moment… He didn't want to think too hard about it.

After walking to the transporter and out again, it was only a few steps to the Control Room. Dr. Weir was talking with Sergeant Bryan Grimault.

Radek no longer felt the twinge of pain when he saw the young Canadian sergeant performing duties Peter had for that first year in Atlantis, but thinking about Peter again brought it up a bit. He shook it off as he walked up to the two of them.

Elizabeth saw him and turned from the screen on the wall where Bryan had brought up the latest scans. She got right to the point, not wanting to dance around it, "Zelenka, the Daedalus cannot detect Sub 1."

"That is not good, not at all…" He was hoping they would at least know where they were, and with this new news…

The Sergeant expanded on Elizabeth's information, "And their sensors are being distorted in a greater area around the fissure." He gestured to the screen.

As Radek thought about reasons that was happening, he turned the work-pad towards Elizabeth, "This also needs to be under advisement."

With a look of slight confusion to what he was referring to, she took the small computer and read it over. "Oh…" Her face went into a state of showing no emotions though under the surface she was worried, "You don't think that he used Trelio's console do you? If there's only one new set then he could have only copied himself."

Radek winced, "Well, unless there was already a consciousness stored in it."

She cocked her head, "Wasn't all the data cleared before storage?"

"So we think. But if we missed something, Ronon Dex could be at the bottom of the ocean with a copy of Rodney in his mind, or even Garin Trelio's."

"Let's hope that neither is the case, especially about Garin Trelio. The last time he took over a member of this Expedition, we almost lost Rodney. I wonder what he was even doing in the storage room."

"Only he can answer that question." Zelenka thought it was only one in the afternoon in Earth-time, and it already was a long day. The three of them continued to talk about the situation and all that they knew about what was going on.

---

"Atlantis, are you reading me?" Lt. Colonel Sheppard spoke more anxiously than the first time he tried, a few moments before. "Sergeant, if you're slacking off I'm going to remove you from active duty."

His threat went unanswered and he muttered, "Yea… Grimault wouldn't stray from his post."

Copy Rodney contrived Ronon's face into confusion, "Who? Where's Peter?"

John kept a stone face on, "A lot happened during the Siege." He beat back the memories and changed the subject, "What's going on with the comm.?"

Rodney didn't need further explanation. With a fallen face he answered solemnly, "It uh…" He checked a few things on the console with his right hand as his left was clutched around his stomach. "It's functioning properly." He hissed suddenly and closed his eyes.

Teyla reached forward from her seat and rested her hand on his left shoulder, "Are you alright?"

Rodney snapped in Ronon's deep voice, "No I'm not alright! I just got this headache back." He rubbed his stomach, "Not to mention this stomach ache… not really nauseous…"

She questioned, "Has this happened earlier? Since the crash?"

"Yes! Quite a few times actually."

"You should have told me." She scolded.

"Well, I was busy at the time and if I did you wouldn't have let me work…and it's not as if the pint-size McKay is in any shape for fixing this thing." He let out a slow, deep breath.

John was also leaned in close to him, "Do you need anything?"

"What I need is to get off of the ocean floor and back to Atlantis." He snarked quietly as his head swirled.

"I'm working on it." Sheppard grasped the controls and focused his thoughts on lifting the submarine up towards the surface.

---

Alexa Stroh tapped her foot as she sat next to Susan Simpson in a sectioned off part of the Control Room, unaware of the discoveries the Daedalus and Radek had made.

She pointed to the monitor, "Interesting."

"I see it." The American scientist typed in a few commands, "Where it came from is the question now."

"Let's trace it from the camera back through the hallway. The power should be from the west end of the hall."

Susan ran her hand over her strawberry-blonde hair and quickly hit a few keys, the image on the monitor immediately changing. "I wonder if this was the only camera that lost those twenty minutes."

"It wouldn't be hard to check."

"I'll continue to trace this if you would see to that." Susan asked as she kept her hazel eyes focused on the readings.

Alexa nodded, "Good luck." She stood, "I shouldn't be long."

"I'll be here."

Dr. Stroh left the backroom and went out into the main section of the Control Balcony where Radek was talking with the young sergeant. Zelenka had his right arm crossed and his left hand on his chin while Sergeant Grimault had his left hand at his side and right pointing to the large crystal monitor. Both men were of the same approximate height standing over by the screen where the images they had taken of the fissure were displayed. The initial one was on the left followed by the subsequent ones.

She went over to them, "Radek, Sergeant."

Radek and Bryan turned to her, neither had heard her walking up, being too engrossed in their discussion. Radek answered her first with a slight smile upon seeing her, "Alexa."

Bryan also acknowledged her, "Doctor."

Radek inquired, "How is the power diagnostic going?"

"Simpson and I discovered there was a surge. She's tracing it and I'm going to see if the other cameras were affected in the same way. What are you two so absorbed in?"

"We're discussing the possible reasons that the area surrounding the fissure has increased so dramatically within the last hour or so." Bryan gestured to the images. The one on the left was the most detailed from two days ago and the last was the worst. The area within a thousand meters was impenetrable by Atlantis's sensors and the Daedalus's and was black at the center and fuzzy around the edges.

"Sub 1 is in there somewhere?" Alexa raised her eyebrow.

Radek sighed, "Unfortunately. We know the fissure was emitting radiation that distorted our scans and it was approximately 160 degrees Celsius when they left for the mission."

"The increase of distortion most likely has gone along with an increase of temperature."

Alexa wrung her hands gently in front of her where they were folded, "You do not know?"

Radek noticed her actions, "Those were the first sensors to be blocked."

It was her turn to ask Radek, "Did your search come up with anything?"

Zelenka sighed slightly, "There's another set of prints that belong to Ronon Dex."

"Oh my god. At least there was no consciousness to be downloaded."

"As far as we know." Radek turned his head back to the screen and Bryan lowered his eyes.

"Excuse me?"

The Sergeant grimaced, "From what I've heard of the console, it wouldn't be hard to miss something."

She raised an eyebrow, "Oh that's just great, let's hope that isn't the case."

"For all our sakes." Radek collected his notes he had set down on the workstation quickly and addressed Bryan, "I want to recheck Trelio's computer, and I'll be back up here to continue the scans. The database should be checked for any references to the fissure again. We couldn't find anything before." He wished Elana Trelio was still around, she would have found it quickly if there was anything to find. He went on to talk to Alexa, "You'll need security clearance to study the other footage, Dr. Weir will have to give it to you." He took a breath, "That is it, no?"

Dr. Stroh nodded noticing his frazzling edges and how he still had all issues under control, "Everything is covered."

"Good. I'm off." He walked away with his hand running through his hair and thoughts running through his head.

---

John Sheppard's face was strained red, his jaw clenched, and eyes looking directly out the window of the submarine.

Copy Rodney and Teyla were looking at him with worried looks and Rodney snipped, "Are you having a problem?"

John spoke through his teeth, "Just give me a second." He focused harder and the sub lurched up and began its ascent. "It's like it was being held down. It's still really hard to keep it going." He checked the readings, "And we're not even going fast at all."

"We're crawling…" Rodney closed Ronon's eyes and rubbed the back of his head. "We were going too fast after power was lost… something was pulling us and it won't let go…" He went silent as his arm fell to his side.

"Rodney, you can't fall asleep now after saying that." John tried to get him to respond.

"I can if I want." Ronon's head tilted forward as John kept the sub going up.

Teyla checked his pulse and gave a nod to the Colonel. "I will be in the back."

He still had his jaw clenched in concentration, "Alright."

-

Rodney opened his eyes to white.

Damn.

It was one place he did not want to be right then, well ever again. Not after spending quality time there with an Ancient mad scientist.

But of course, it was different. He was the scientist invading someone's mind. He looked over to his right and realized he wasn't the only one awake.

"Umm… hi…"

Ronon was looking around the expanse with a blank look on his face and sitting up, "McKay."

Rodney continued, "So uh, we finally meet. It's Ronon, right?"

"You should know that by now. What happened to the sub?" He stood up and his expression became wider as he searched around, seeing nothing but Rodney McKay.

"It's a long story actually. You wouldn't know about copying and downloading consciousnesses would you?" Ronon gave him a look and Rodney stood up, "No, of course not."

"Teyla was talking about an Ancient. I know what happened with him."

"Oh, okay. Good, then there's one less thing I have to explain to you. That would have been an interesting conversation wouldn't it? 'Oh by the way, I had a different consciousness in my brain.' Wait… actually…"

"McKay." Ronon didn't like not knowing exactly what was going on.

"Right, right. Well." Rodney slapped his hands together, not knowing how Ronon, a man he had just met, was going to take this news, "This is the first time I, personally, am meeting you."

Ronon started piecing it together as Rodney continued nervously, "When they took Garin Trelio out of my head, they copied me and apparently didn't… delete me because here I am. In your head, somehow."

Ronon stayed silent while it came together for him. When Teyla had described Garin's computer, he had hid his worry. Now he knew the full consequences.

"We are in your mind. It's like this most likely because of the trauma your body received in the crash. You see when the Jumper was cr-"

"What crash?"

"Oh, the sub. It crashed. The Colonel was hurt, the original me is actually passed out… I uh… anyway, Teyla's alright, and you… us… must have suffered some pretty severe injuries for us to be thrown in here and for me being out there for so long."

Ronon's anger was rising, "You have been in control of my body?"

Rodney felt like he should back away, and he did, by a baby step and then a much larger one, "Well… uh… you see…"

"McKay." Ronon stepped forward, closing the distance between them to only a mere arm's length.

"I didn't want to! I didn't know how to-'

He stopped speaking as a fist came into contact with his chin, turning his face to the right.

"Hey!" He rubbed his face out of instinct, "I suppose I deserved that."

"Yes." Ronon agreed as he crossed his arms.

"For one, that didn't hurt, so the joke's on you. We could beat each other for hours and neither one of us would be harmed. Believe me, I've been through this before. About a couple of hours ago technically, so lay off Worf." Copy Rodney said with his best snark, but it fell flat out of his innate fear of the man in front of him. The large man who looked like he could take down an elephant, and felt like it too to Rodney when he had control.

"We're stuck here?"

"Yep." Rodney took another step back from Ronon.

"Because of the damage to my body from a crash I can't remember?"

"Yea. But the good news is that I have the sub running again so we should be back to Atlantis fairly soon. Though the sub was moving awfully slow… and time in this reality isn't really the same as far as I know. I suppose it could be, but since time is relative to-"

"Can't I just wake up from this place?" The last thing Ronon wanted was to be there with Rodney, even a copy, for however long it took to get back to the city.

"You could. Giving it a try wouldn't hurt. Concentrate on waking up."

Ronon sat on the white ground without another word and closed his eyes.

Rodney looked on the scene, not knowing what to expect. Ronon vanishing into thin air? But nothing was happening. "So…"

"Shh!"

"Oh, right. Sorry." Rodney rocked on his heels for another few moments as Ronon didn't move from his position. "I don't think it's going to work. At least not anytime soon. When Garin first took control before he made the mind-suppressant, it was for a couple hours at a time and I blacked out. After the Jumper crashed, I had control of my body for awhile instead of Garin. It had to have been the trauma that shook him loose. Then the injuries caught up to me, I passed out, and woke up in a place like this with him."

Ronon opened his eyes, "But you had control when the sub crashed."

"True. Me waking up could have just been random, both times."

Ronon glared around the empty expanse, "There's no other way out?"

"No." He sat down a few feet away from the other man.

They stayed in silence for what seemed like eternity until Rodney broke it, "What were you doing touching Garin Trelio's computer anyway? Didn't your mother teach you not to play with other people's things?"

"I was restless."

"So you go wandering dark rooms of Atlantis?"

"It's not unusual."

"Don't you know that some Ancient technology could be dangerous?"

Ronon eyed Rodney, "Now I do."

"Oh, funny." Rodney snipped. "But seriously, were you nervous or something?"

Ronon only gave him his version of the evil eye.

"That's it! Was it your first sub mission?"

"Yes."

"Huh. You were anxious and wanted to check out more of Ancient tech before you delved thousands of meters underwater."

"You don't know everything McKay."

"But I'm right aren't I?"

Again, no answer came from Ronon.

"I'm sure you could have just asked for a tour or something."

"I wish I would have."

---

Elizabeth Weir looked down over the Gate from the balcony, her hands gripping the railing. It had been cool to the touch when she first clamped her hands on it, but now she felt the warmth.

Warmth. It had to be getting hot at the ocean floor.

The day had been eventful, information flying at her from all angles. And it wasn't over yet. It wouldn't be until the team was back, Ronon was talked to, it was confirmed there wasn't another consciousness in the Satedan's head, the mystery of the fissure solved, and the strange power surge was fixed.

Not a tall list at all.

She was contemplating sending another team and another submarine. They did have a bay full of subs, it could be ready to go in an hour. Even less if it was needed. Major Lorne's team would go.

But they had too little information to go on, and the team could still be gathering research. They planned on spending two hours down there and it was just nearing that mark. The team had only missed one check-in, Atlantis couldn't reach them, and the fissure was causing more distortions in their sensors. That's all Atlantis knew, but it wasn't boding well.

She heard someone behind her, "Dr. Weir?"

Elizabeth turned to see Dr. Stroh and Dr. Simpson, "Yes?"

Alexa turned a computer-pad to her, "We've traced the surge to Generator 2. It affected all security cameras connected to it for a duration of twenty minutes last night."

"There is a minor problem with the generator itself, but gone unchecked for too long, it could have been worse. Dr. Zelenka is down there fixing it."

"Couldn't he have sent someone else?" Elizabeth knew the Czech had his hands full that day.

Susan went on, "He mentioned bringing a few others so they get to know the technology."

She gave the pad back to Alexa, "Good work, doctors."

They left after goodbyes and Elizabeth turned back to the Gate and whispered, "One down."

A/N: It's great to know there are fellow Python fans out there reading this. I just got a screencap program, one of these days I will be capping Holy Grail. Hehe.

The language was Tolkien's Elvish and a little of the language of Mordor. No die-hard LOTR fans huh? Oh and sparklegem, thanks for the heads-up! I'll go back to that someday and change it.

Leave something to feed the bunnies (not the Killer Rabbit, I finally got away from it!)