Black and White

By Alpha Pegasi

Chapter Three

AN: I'm sure that two Wraith would communicate telepathically and just exchange meaningful glances but that is no good to a fic. writer so my Wraith are chatty!

Thanks for the great reviews! I should let you know that I am a Queen of Cliffies but should be updating this story every four days or so.

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Dr Carson Beckett slowly opened his eyes. His head felt thick and heavy. The lingering effects of the stunner showed themselves in aches in his joints and numbness in his limbs. He was lying on his back, on a low table, in a dimly lit chamber. It definitely wasn't a native hut but looked like Ancient work.

A spike of fear and adrenaline shot through him as he remembered how he had come to be there, and also as he realised that there was a bandage around his neck. Had he survived having his neck slashed by a Wraith – had it fed on him? He felt his neck urgently, his fingers feeling no wound but Carson was horrified to find something hard and metallic was now imbedded at the base of his skull. It wasn't causing him pain, the skin was numb, but it would only be a matter of time.

The bandages were damp – blood tinged the fingers that he brought before his gaze – so it had been done recently and quite crudely, but what was its purpose? And what had happened to the others? He was completely alone in the chamber.

He froze as an unseen door in the wall of the chamber suddenly opened and two Wraith stepped into the room. They grinned at him. Carson's instinct to flee or fight had no outlet – his body would not respond to this horror.

The taller of the two Wraith approached the table. He was holding a device with which he scanned Beckett.

"You see," he hissed, "everything goes as planned. This Human has the sequence – the scans of the City that I saw were correct."

The other drew back its teeth in a snarl. "We should feed – this is a waste."

The leader fisted his taloned hands into the front of the smaller Wraith's uniform.

"Control your hunger, you have already fed today. Now is the time for revenge – and then we feed!" He dropped the other who fell back gasping and hissing and then turned to the table where he seized Beckett roughly into a sitting position.

Carson closed his eyes in terror. This was it – the moment of his death. The fear that stalked members of the Atlantis team, that left many of them gasping awake in sweaty dread in the middle of the night was upon him. Too many times he had seen what happened when the Wraith fed.

But the fingers were touching the back of his neck, removing the bandage and examining the device that had been placed there. The Wraith released him and stepped back with a grunt of satisfaction.

"Bring him, it is time."

The other, with a sibilant hiss, pulled Beckett from the table. Carson's legs buckled beneath him, but there was an iron grip on his arms that held him upright, and he was dragged out of the chamber. They were in a corridor – it was definitely of Ancient work but the walls were dull, powerless. Carson's thoughts were a jumbled whirl – what was happening? This did not match any pattern of behaviour that he had previously encountered with the Wraith. Why wasn't he dead – were the others possibly alive too?

The little party reached a larger chamber. Carson was vaguely aware that there were other Wraith there – four or five of them but the lighting was dim, it was hard to see clearly. He was being taken to the centre of the chamber where there was a circular platform …and a Chair!

The Chair might have resembled the ones in Atlantis once but it was dull and looked damaged. A mesh of wires also surrounded it. Their purpose became clear as Carson was pushed down into the Chair. As it came to life, he found metal straps were being fastened round his wrists, legs and neck. Sitting in this Chair was not going to be a voluntary exercise. As his forehead was strapped back against the headboard, Carson felt the tingle of power as the Chair responded to his presence and the chamber began to glow around him, as panels and controls sprang into life. The leader of the Wraith gave a howl of triumph but Carson only felt a dreadful foreboding.