A/N: Of course Ronon would suck the syrup out of his hair... it was REAL maple syrup! Thanks so much for the reviews... on we go with the story

UNDER GLASS
By NotTasha

CHAPTER 3: SNAP

Fine-honed survival instincts kicked in as Teyla tucked and rolled through the exit, just as the doorway sliced down with a snap. She felt the force of it trying to clip at her heels as it clapped shut. She came up in a crouch, her hair still in motion – even as the Satedan lunged forward in a fruitless attempt to stop the door's descent.

With a shout, he jabbed down his stick to wedge it open, but the door was unstoppable and he managed only to deflect the staff on the hard surface.

Teyla stared at the shut door in disbelief. "Colonel," she whispered. "Doctor McKay!" But she was faced with the cold hard surface. She changed her gaze to look at Ronon.

The Satedan scowled, looking as annoyed as hell as he battered the doorway with the staff.

Within the room, transparent doors on the alcoves slammed down with equal efficiency. McKay, his senses less adapted to such dangers, slammed himself backward to avoid being sliced in two, effectively trapping himself within.

Sheppard, in the main room, had time to do nothing beside snap his weapon up and search for a target.

For a moment, no one spoke. Sheppard looked about frantically, searching out some sign of attack. McKay gasped, clutching at his pack and the video recorder, his eyes wide. Nothing moved. Within the room, the only sound was whisk of Sheppard's uniform as he searched for a target and the muffled panting of the scientist under glass.

"Hey!" McKay squeaked. He cleared his throat, and tried again, his voice stronger, "What? What… Hey!" He cringed in the back of the alcove, hands gripping at the pack as if it was a shield. "Colonel!"

On the alert, Sheppard shifted about. "Hang on, Rodney."

"Yeah, easy for you to say. You're not the one stuck in a…" The scientist paused and let out a quiet little, "oh no…"

"Quiet down, McKay," Sheppard growled.

Rodney released the video camera into his pack and reached forward, splaying out the hand so that it hovered centimeters from the transparent door. Open, he thought. Come on, open!

Slowly, he let his hand land on the substance. He swallowed and glanced at the close walls on all sides. "Colonel," he cried, as his hand spidered along the hard surface.

But Sheppard snapped on his radio. "Teyla! Ronon!"

"We are here, Colonel," Teyla answered immediately. "We are fine," she added, to forestall the question she knew was coming. "Are you and Doctor McKay all right?"

"Fine," Sheppard shot back.

Clicking on his own mic, Rodney added, "Fine is a relative term! We're trapped in here. I'm trapped in a painfully small alcove. Seriously, get us out!" To himself, after he shut down the connection, he uttered a quiet, "Wide open fields… wide open fields."

Within the room, Sheppard heard a 'tick', against the outer door and commented, "Hitting it won't help, Ronon."

Over the com, Dex growled, "It won't open!"

"We have to get out," McKay whined as he pressed his hand harder against the door, as if it might find a secret way through if he just pushed hard enough. "We have to get out. Now!"

Sheppard glanced to McKay. "Bet it just takes a little mental nudge."

"I've tried that! You think I didn't try that?"

"Maybe there's some bug in the system. Might need someone to try opening it from here."

"Well, do it then!" McKay ordered. "Quit messing around."

Sheppard considered offering a snappy comeback, but instead, did as McKay had so graciously requested, mentally sending a nudge to the doors.

Nothing happened.

"Get on with it!" McKay hollered. "Come on. Chop-chop! I don't have all day here."

"Didn't work," Sheppard admitted, and seeing Rodney's crestfallen look, he stated, "Why don't you try again?"

"Right. Yes." McKay responded. He paused, and dropped the pack to his feet. Then, folding his arms over his chest, he closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. After a moment, he peeped open one eye, seeing nothing had changed. "I'm a dead man," he piped. "We're doomed."

"Colonel?" Teyla's voice came over the radio again, sounding worried.

"We're fine," Sheppard repeated. "But we haven't been able to get anything open."

Teyla continued, "I am looking for the control panel, Dr. McKay. It is no longer open." There was a pause. "Can you tell me how to find it?"

Within the glassed-off alcove, McKay grimaced. "Just press on the same area where it was before. It's not as if the panel moved. A little pressure and it should open."

"I am trying to find the location," Teyla's voice returned.

"You don't remember where it is?" McKay asked incredulously. "I just had it open. Didn't you pay any attention?"

Teyla responded, her voice remarkably level, "I am not certain of its exact location."

"It's right next to the symbol for 'patience', for Christ's sake!"

"I am unfamiliar…"

"Chest high!" Rodney snipped, and reached out, demonstrating for no purpose. "My chest… not yours. And not Ronon's either. My God, if you were aiming for HIS chest-high, they'd be putting those things on the rooftops."

Ronon snorted over the radio, and then pointed out, "It's not there. She's trying in many places."

"Of course it's there!" Rodney snapped. "I had just activated it."

Sheppard came across the room to stand near McKay as Teyla responded, "It will not open."

"Might be cued to the gene," John stated.

"Great," McKay muttered, rubbing a hand over his face. He pressed his eyes tightly shut, trying to blot out his tight surroundings, remembering one of the reasons he'd become an astrophysicist – the vastness of the universe. "Just great… Okay." His head shot up and he gave Sheppard a sharp look. "Why aren't you looking for a panel on the inside of the door? Go! There must be one on the inside as well!"

"Gotcha," Sheppard replied, and bounded across the room to the door. Over the radio, he stated, "I'm going to try it from in here."

McKay, looking unusually forlorn, pressed his forehead against the barrier, only to pull it back when he realized it might be coming up in an instant. Sheppard cocked his head at the walls surrounding the doorway.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" McKay demanded to know. "To the right. Try to the right."

With a confident motion, Sheppard slapped the wall at chest height. A panel fell back. He grinned over his shoulder at McKay.

"Colonel!" Teyla's voice came over the radio. "Stop what you are doing! You have activated…" There was a searing sound of weapons fire, followed by, "Ronon! No!"

The Satedan dove, coming up firing. Above him, the sphere ducked and bobbed, shifting about in the air unnaturally. He fired again, missing as the thing zagged when he thought it would zig.

In his ear, he heard Sheppard, "Ronon! Teyla! Report!"

Followed by McKay, "What happened? What's going on? You're getting us out, right?"

But neither he nor Teyla had the time to respond. The metallic device hovered menacingly above.

"It is a Wraith probe!" Teyla shouted to Dex.

"I know," Ronon growled through his teeth.

"We cannot let it escape."

Ronon threw the Athosian a glance as if she was the one suddenly stating things far too obvious.

The sphere chose that moment to speed away. It snapped upward, then careened down the slope, into the valley. Ronon, without hesitation, galumphed after it, like a mastiff after a tennis ball. Teyla, in contrast, paused. She lifted a hand to her ear and breathlessly stated, "Colonel, a Wraith Probe was released from somewhere near the entrance to the facility."

"What?" McKay's voice responded. "Wraith? Are you sure?"

"I am certain," Teyla replied, watching the forest where Ronon had disappeared. She could hear him crashing through the undergrowth – the discharge of his weapon. "It was identical to the one we saw on M7G-677, the planet with the children."

"Disable it!" Sheppard's voice snapped.

"Ronon is pursuing it," Teyla told him. She glanced uneasily to the still shut door. "Do you want me to follow, or should I attempt to release you from the room?"

"Open the door!" she heard McKay shout an answer.

But, even as Rodney spoke, Sheppard replied with, "Don't let that probe reach the gate! Go after him, Teyla. One of you has to stop it!"

"Yes, Colonel," she responded, nodding resolutely and taking off into the undergrowth after Ronon.

Sheppard stepped closer to the main door, his hand still against his ear as if it would help him hear what his people were up against, but the transmission had ended. In frustration, he slammed a fist against the sealed opening, accomplishing nothing beyond bruising his hand.

"They're gone? But…but!" McKay sputtered. "But… we're trapped here! Oh, we're in serious trouble." He made a move as if to pace, but there was no room, and all he managed to do was to turn around in a tight circle. A big open ocean -- he tried to picture the sea that surrounded Atlantis. Big wide open ocean. Aw hell, that wouldn't help! "A trap," he cried. "This was specifically set to capture us! Do you realize that?"

"We don't know that McKay."

"Door slamming down that won't open. A Wraith probe appearing out of nowhere and taking off like a bat out of hell? What was that all about? Do you think the probe just came by to take a gander at the local hairstyles? Because if it were using Ronon and Teyla as models…" And McKay stopped abruptly, rubbing one hand over his face. "Let's just thank God they didn't get a gander at you."

"McKay," Sheppard called, trying to get the man on track.

"I'll bet you anything the probe is headed right to the Gate, and that it has some sort of internal GDO that'll let it dial whatever address leads it to the closest Wraith armada and then it'll transmit the fact that we are trapped here," McKay spoke faster and faster. " The Wraith will be stomping down here any minute now, looking all bad ass and Marilyn Manson in their too-cool-for-school leather coats and…"

"Hang on a minute, McKay."

"Get me out! Now!" McKay demanded, slamming an open palm on the clear door. "Really… seriously… now! Teyla should have stayed! You should have made her stay to get us out!"

"We have to head off the probe." Sheppard glanced to McKay, but returned his attention to the door, itching to follow the others. "If the probe doesn't reach the gate, there's a good chance the Wraith won't know we're here."

"This is SO wrong," McKay muttered. He turned about again, examining the walls of his little room, cringing, and having to turn away before they edged too close to him. "A trap," he murmured.

"Yeah," Sheppard stated. "Could be."

"They set this up to draw us in!"

"Could be it was set to capture the Ancients 10,000 years ago and only caught us by accident."

"Oh no," McKay conjectured. "This was just for us." McKay's voice was high with anxiety. "Those Tuweep hunters -- want to bet they're some of those Wraith Groupies? They want us. You… me…" He waved a hand about. "Me especially, but any of us from Atlantis. They want to find out more about Earth and this is their way of capturing us."

Sheppard blew out a breath, but didn't deny the comment.

"Those hunters from Tuweep dangled the right carrot in front of us and…" McKay stopped, berating himself silently for going for the bait. "The Wraith are just waiting for that probe. We're going to get our lives sucked right out of us, along with the knowledge of how to find Earth."

"Okay, I get it," Sheppard cut him off before he went on too long.

But McKay had already taken off on another tangent. "How did they get the Ancient technology to do this? It makes no sense!" And McKay paused, his brow furrowing as if a thought hurt him. His voice was almost calm as he asked, "The panel…what do you see?"

Sheppard, still annoyed that he was unable to follow Ronon and Teyla, frowned as he peered within. "No crystals," he commented, surprised by this fact. Shouldn't there always be crystals? He reached to get a better idea of what he was looking at. "Looks strange."

"Strange?" McKay voiced.

"You know, 'hinky'."

McKay watched as Sheppard extended a finger to poke the interior of the panel. Quick as a shot, Rodney snapped, "Stop!" His voice reflected back at him, sounding even louder.

Sheppard froze, and turned toward McKay, lifting an eyebrow in question.

"Does it look like…? does it remind you of…?"

Sheppard turned his head toward the strange substance within the control panel, it looked almost like sinews, like some sort of fleshy material. Sheppard drew back and groaned out, "Wraith technology!"

TBC - Things just keep getting better