Rodney expected to be dead. This wasn't the first time. Obviously, he wasn't dead.
He was lying on his back in another dark room. When he tried to feel around, he realized he was in what Daniel Jackson would describe as a sarcophagus. He had an inch of free space on each side. He couldn't even turn around.
"I'm gonna die... asphyxiated. No no no. This can't be happening. They have to get me out of here. They won't! Sheppard thinks I'm dead! I will be soon... I can't breathe... I can't breathe..."
Rodney soon realized that this was another "test chamber". There must have a hole in the walls, because there was air coming from the outside. Barely enough, just enough to keep him alive.
"If Sheppard was here, he would have had serious problems... Actually, he would have had more space than I do. He's thin!"
"There must be a way out! If I can just see what the lid is made of..." Rodney tried to move his hands to feel the texture of the lid.
"Bricks. Damned bricks! If I ever see any bricks again I'll... Wait a minute! Rodney, you're a genius! This was designed to test the subject when they had none of their senses... I can't see, touch doesn't help,
as for taste and smell... it's all about listening. I have to listen!"
He heard it. The machine, slowly ticking proving to him tttthat the test wasn't over.
"I must make it understand I got the idea. How do I make a machine understand anything? At least Sheppard isn't here to bug me with his ideas... That's it! I must shut up. When it stops sensing the vibrations, it'll move on."
Rodney lay there, silent, trying not to move at all, waiting to see what happened next.
Come on, you must do something!
An eternity passed and every muscle in his body was tense and aching.
Not sure I'd be good for anything, even if it change.
Just then, he heard the familiar sound of the stones. The whole chamber seemed to move, to tilt, actually. When he was in an upright position, the floor retracted and Rodney slid on what felt like a ditch filled with water.
"This is just great! My voice! I'm losing it!"
He landed in another room, which had two openings resembling doorframes.
"Which one do I take? Well... let's see... I can see! The small joys of life... what's that sound?"
As he turned around, he saw water coming from the ditch. It was pouring in at a rather fast pace.
"Oh, God!"
He started running, running through doors, without thinking about the one he should choose, just running from the water. His feet were hurting... his whole body was hurting and he really couldn't understand why this was happening to him.
John Sheppard stood besides the hatch for a while. There was nothing he could do about it. Still, he couldn't move away.
"Colonel, where are you?" Teyla asked over the radio.
"I'm... um... near the room."
A few minutes later, Teyla and Ronon were there, staring at Sheppard.
"Colonel, we should go. We are to report in less than half of hour."
"There's nothing to report, actually. This place is... boring," Ronon added.
"Where is Dr. McKay?" Teyla was looking around to find the scientist.
"He's gone."
"Where?" Ronon was alert, expecting to be sent to retrieve Rodney.
"He's dead."
"How?" Teyla was shocked. She always felt that if one of them was to die, it would be Sheppard. Or at least he'd be showing signs of a fight. John Sheppard was... soaking.
"What happened, Sheppard?" Ronon's voice was threatening.
John appeared to be in shock. Lost in a moment. They weren't going to get any information out of him.
"We should go back to Atlantis. Sheppard, you'll be sick if you don't get out of these clothes." Getting no response, Teyla and Ronon guided Sheppard back to the gate. Back to Atlantis.
Half an hour later they were all in the infirmary.
Sheppard was lying on a bed, a nurse checking the machines around him.
"All tests indicate that he's fine. A few bruises, nothing too serious. Now, where's Rodney?" Carson peered around the infirmary.
"Doctor McKay is -"
"The little bugger must be really busy, otherwise he would've been on one o' these beds."
"He's dead." Ronon's words froze Carson's blood.
"What did you say?"
"He's dead. He was with Sheppard, and now he's dead."
Sheppard was staring at them.
"I didn't kill him for God's sake!"
"You were meant to protect him!"
"I couldn't, Ronon. I couldn't. He didn't let me."
"Why don't we jus' sit down and listen to what the Colonel has to say." As Teyla moved towards John's bed, Carson said to Ronon in a low voice:
"Ye'r not helping him, or Rodney. Just listen to him and we'll see what can be done."
They waited a few minutes in complete silence for Elizabeth to arrive. Carson hoped Ronon would stop staring at John like that.
As soon as Elizabeth entered the infirmary, John started explaining: "We fell through the floor in this small, dark room. It separated, the walls kept moving and then there was water and -"
"Slow down, son. Take it one step at a time." Carson was worried, John's hands were trembling and he was afraid John was more affected than he had initially thought. He decided to keep John in the infirmary overnight, just to be sure there were no complications.
"You said you fell in a black room. What sort of room was it?" Carson inquired, hoping he'll be able to calm him down.
"A room with brick walls and -"
"Nothing else." Ronon interrupted. "What rooms were you in?"
"The one that got split, and then the water, and then the one whose walls closed in on us."
"McKay is alive. He should be alive."
"What do you mean?" John's voice was filled with hope.
"There's a... maze after that. And he should be able to make it past the maze. Then... I don't know what's next, but I think he's alive."
"How do you know all this?" Elizabeth asked, hoping that the runner had been through such an experience and could help Rodney.
"It was meant as a test."
"Rodney figured out that part." John was getting restless.
"It was devised by an ally of ours. Some of our young would be tested that way. The only thing I know is that it's supposed to test an individual's inner value... It's not about skill or training... something more."
"Do you think he…" Sheppard listened to Ronon's every word, hoping there was a chance that Rodney was alive.
"I think that he could have made it." Ronon answered.
"We must go back, Elizabeth." John started getting off the bed, looking at Carson with a pleading look.
"Yes, you -" Elizabeth accepted.
"I'll go, too. He might be injured."
"He is. Banged his head pretty bad."
"Why didn't you say this sooner, lad?"
"I thought he was dead!"
"Go on, prepare for the mission." Weir said.
An hour later they were all standing by the gate, waiting for the chevrons to lock.
"What d' ye think, Ronon? How are we goin' t' find him?" Carson enquired.
"Alive. He'll make it."
The maze seemed endless. Rodney didn't know if there was any point in him running like that. There was no sign that anything had changed.
"What are you going to do, Rodney? What are you going to do?"
He remembered those little mazes for mice he used to look at. It was interesting to see how the mouse always found its way to the food.
"If only there was some food around here..."
It amused him, how easy it felt from above.
"Wait a minute! That's it! I have to get above!"
After a few minutes he saw some bricks that were slightly bigger than the others, standing out from the wall. He couldn't see the distance between the maze walls and the ceiling, but by the look of the shades they cast there must have been something.
The climb was difficult. His clothes were soaked, it was cold, the light was dim and he never was the sporting type.
"Just a bit more... Just a few centimeters more..."
His left hand slipped and he could see himself falling back. Into the water that now ran through the whole maze.
He tried again and again, until finally he managed to reach the top of the wall.
"There it is! The exit."