MORE THAN JUST PRETTY FACES
By TIPPER
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BLOBBY
For a moment, Teyla remained crouched in the shadows at the edge of the clearing, watching the surroundings like a wary animal watching for predators. When nothing immediately jumped out at her, she moved forward a little, staying low to the ground, then stopped again. Her senses were on full alert, everything attuned to possible attack. She continued this slow, steady movement, staying in a fighter's crouch the whole time, until she was about half-way across.
She heard it before anything, and she immediately rolled, trusting completely in her sense of hearing. A second, and she was up and firing, paying no attention to the two blow-gun darts that had sunk into the ground where she had been a moment earlier.
She heard the cries of pain, but didn't wait to test that she had won. Instead, she was running for the invisible jumper, diving into it as soon as she could.
She rolled into the bench, then pressed herself against the side of the familiar interior, staring out into the clearing. Her eyes searched the trees, wanting to see her attackers. They had obviously known the jumper was here, but weren't sure where, so had waited for she and her team to make their move on it. Of course, now that she had shown them where it was...
Her eyes caught sight of three men shifting inside the trees. They were staying within the cover that the jungle afforded, but were moving to get a better position on what they now knew was the door of the jumper. She sighed a little, knowing what was about to happen.
Three solid pops echoed from a 9MM.
Teyla grimaced, and listened as nothing else moved for a while.
Then Sheppard appeared from out of the woods, keeping low as he aimed for the jumper, his life signs detector in his hands.
Nothing attacked him.
In moments, he was inside and hitting the switch to close the door. He nodded at her as he sidled past, aiming to get to the front.
"Nice job," he said. She smiled.
"You too."
He grunted dismissively, then sat down on the pilot's chair. He looked at the controls before him, but didn't immediately power them up, as he would normally. Instead, he hit his radio.
"Ronon?"
The static was much thicker this time, and there was a high pitched whine in the background. Sheppard winced, but tried again.
"Ronon? Ronon, can you hear me? This is Sheppard. I need to talk to McKay."
The static almost seemed to mock him. Teyla had settled into the co-pilot's seat, watching him.
They came to the realization at the same time, and looked up out of the window at Blobby.
"Shit," Sheppard muttered.
"It is interfering with the signal," Teyla said.
"Yeah. Shoulda thought of that."
"So we can not talk to Doctor McKay."
"No."
She sucked in a deep breath, then let it out. Her eyes trailed the controls, trying to think as the doctor would have done, to think of a way out of this.
But Sheppard was quicker.
"Okay," he said, staring at the still dark controls. "Let's assume Blobby's a dog."
Teyla skipped a beat, then blinked at Sheppard. "What?"
"A dog. Pretend it's a dog."
"A dog..." She blinked some more, shaking her head a little.
He glanced at her, "You remember those pets that the prime minister had on Maneria?"
She frowned slightly, "Yes...I know what a dog is. I just—"
"Good. Now, let's say Blobby's like a dog. It senses power the same way dogs smell food. Right now, with the cloak on, Blobby can sense that there is food in the area, but it can't figure out where. It's sniffing around, but without success. The cloak is deflecting whatever...," he rolled a hand around, searching for the right words, "...helps it sense power nearby, just as it deflects light and other ship's sensors."
Teyla was just watching, her eyebrows raised. "All right," she said, accepting the theory.
"Okay," he nodded, licking his lips. "Now, say we power this jumper up, what might happen?"
"Well," Teyla looked down at the jumper's controls, "if the smell is increased in potency, it becomes easier for the...dog...to locate. So...we might become more visible to the energy creature, despite the cloak."
Sheppard nodded, "Yeah. That's what I'm thinking too."
She frowned, "But then, if we can not power up the jumper, how—"
"I'm getting there," the Colonel unconsciously mimicked, pursing his lips. "Now, what happens if something that smells even better is powered up?"
She looked at him, then, slowly, her eyes widened. "You mean the Stargate?"
He nodded. "I think we're close enough. We should only do it for a second. The last time we powered the gate, the creature interfered with out ability to shut it down. Right now, we just need to distract it long enough to fly out of here and get McKay and Ronon."
Teyla was still frowning, but even more deeply now. "But, then what happens after you have shut the gate down? Surely the creature will—"
"Ah," Sheppard held up a finger, "I have an idea about that too."
Teyla stared at him, at the smile on his face, and settled back in the chair, her expression unmistakably concerned. She looked out the window of the jumper to the shadowed world outside, and swallowed thickly.
"Maybe we should try Doctor McKay again," she said weakly.
"Teyla," Sheppard said firmly, turning her head towards him again. He was watching her intently. "Dial the gate. I'm thinking, the same wasteland where we sent Blobby's brother."
Teyla sighed heavily, and reached over to dial the DHD.
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TBC...
Sorry this was short, but then next two will make up for it, I promise. Only two left!